Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called on farmers to support governors of the North West zone to benefit from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) facilities.
It said the recent interactive session hosted by the AfDB in Abidjan to acquaint governors of the North West Zone on its Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones, tallied with primary objectives for which the ACF and other pro-North cultural organisations were founded.
The programme aims to advance food self-sufficiency, create jobs, and boost economic growth through the processing of raw agricultural commodities in areas with high potential.
Consequently, the ACF called on all communities in the 19 northern states to rally behind the governors who abandoned their different political affiliations in unison to rescue the north from its present predicament.
The chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT) of the ACF in Kano State, Brigadier-General Halliru Akilu (rtd) made the appeal on Tuesday when he reacted to the outcome of the Abidjan dialogue.
He described the development as a good omen for the rejuvenation of Arewa, the re-emergence of its past glory and the upliftment of the communities out of poverty and impoverishment.
On ACF’s general perception of the interaction, General Akilu said the initiative was most timely. He observed that the absence of elite consensus was one of the key impediments bedevilling social, economic and political development of the entire northern landscape.
The elder statesman explained that the Northern Region which has the highest incidence of poverty and food insecurity due to inadequate infrastructure and the ravaging insurgency, must tap into the AfDB’s proposals with a view to eliminating its weak, limited value addition, and poor integration in the domestic, regional and international markets.
The opportunities would enable the Northwest to focus on food production, nutrition, security improvement, as well provide innovative ways for the zone to unleash its agricultural potential. Northwest is mainly Nigeria’s food basket, with an estimated population of over 60 million, about 30% of the country’s population. The zone is also home to 10 million of Nigeria’s 22 million herds of cattle.
The Abidjan delegation was led by Governor Dikko Radda of Katsina State. Other members were the Governors of Jigawa, Kebbi and Zamfara States. Kano, Sokoto and Kaduna were represented by their deputy governors.
Kano Deputy Governor, Comrade Aminu Abdussalam told the participants that the current administration in the state had gone far in efforts to revamp about 20 dams to boost agricultural development.
