A group, the Growth & Development of Northern Nigeria (GDNN) has urged the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to engage genuinely “friendly countries” with the technological capabilities to assist Nigeria in eradicating its security challenges.
GDNN, an association of citizens of the northern region concerned about its development challenges, expressed worry over the country’s continuing insecurity.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja at the weekend, the group said it is clear that if the subsisting “solution” does not bring about the desired outcome, other options may need to be explored if truly Nigeria means to “eradicate the menace totally and not try the same failed “solution” again and again without success.
Acting secretary (Public Policy Advocacy Unit) GDNN, Haruna Buhari, who spoke for the group, called on the federal government to designate Lagos and Port Harcourt as “Federal Capital Territories” -extensions of Abuja to remove the recurring controversies around them and most importantly, protect and separate critical national assets resident in them from those of their states.
Buhari said the designation would also give all citizens of the country access to equal opportunities within them, as is the case currently with Abuja, noting that the North has always been the one in concession to the rest of the country and not any others.
He said limiting this status only to Abuja is not only treating the North unfairly but turning backs at the commitment made in 1975 by the then head of state, General Murtala Ramat Muhammed, when a decision was taken to develop Abuja and designate Lagos, Kaduna and Enugu as “Special Areas” as appendages to the new Federal Capital City.
“We also call on the 19 Governors of the North to negotiate Governance conditions of the current Federal Capital Territory that must give preferential treatment to citizens of Niger, Kogi, Nasarawa and Kaduna States that contributed their territories into what is the FCT of today. The same policy can be implemented for the other Federal Capital Territories when created.
“The GDNN observes with concern that the CBN Governor tightening the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) to 50-60%, meaning that Banks (Commercial & Merchant) can only have access to 50% of what they have in their CBN current Account while the rest 50% is held by the CBN unproductive.
“The meaning of this is that the CBN, believing that this measure is to remove cash in circulation to address inflation, has indeed forgotten that this action, in addition to raising interest rates, forces banks to charge extra on lending to pay those who deposited money with them to earn interest which the same CBN tried to encourage as a mop up measure of liquidity. We in the GDNN urge the CBN governor to exercise restraint in all such applications,” Buhari said.
He noted that the current system of fighting corruption tends to focus more on going after those who have stolen than on using the theft data gathered by the investigation process. He also emphasised the need to change the strategy and approach.
Buhari further called for the scrapping of AMCON as it is not only a liability to the financial sector of the economy but a major “drainpipe and conduit” for corruption and escalating cost of doing business in the country, saying statistics records revealed that AMCON levies imposed on banks annually range between N50 billion and N80 billion per each senior financial Institution in the industry.
He also urged the government to define “money laundering” very clearly. Its intended objective is in the context of the economy’s current business practices environment. He noted that many Nigerian illiterate and even educated traders have, by this regulation, been made “criminals” by the current legal definitions in the various laws of Nigeria.
The GDNN official frowned at using any form of executive authority on any citizen of the north to intimidate or find reasons to send such persons to jail just because they differ in views and opinions from the government and encouraged every citizen of the region to be obedient to constituted authorities.
He also called on the federal government to disengage completely from any further relationships with any or replica of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other international donors due to their alleged sponsorship of terrorism.
Buhari reminded the federal government that the country has enough resources (human and material) to meet its needs and would not need “handouts” to support its “Development.”
He urged the governors of the 19 northern states, including the FCT Minister, to explore syndicating a single facility to develop the Regional Railway Network, which would eventually connect the Northwestern and Northeastern states and be carefully routed through the Northcentral states to Abuja.
He said they should immediately rehabilitate and put back to use the existing rail system that runs on the existing rail tracks to drastically reduce the costs of haulage of raw materials, goods and other services from the Seaport cities of Lagos and Port Harcourt, including moving containers to Inland Ports and enhance the economic and industrial competitiveness of the North and all states in between.
“The GDNN is inviting the attention of our Leaders, our state governors, to please realise that Agriculture is currently the single highest contributor to the nation’s GDP and the highest provider of job and wealth creation and the need for the North to design a strategy aimed at retaining a reasonable proportion of the cash flow from Sales of Farm and Livestock Produce and Products.
“The GDNN invites the attention of the wealthy Northern Nigerians to the unfortunate plight of stray children roaming the streets and sleeping under bridges, in garages, markets, anywhere, etc. and urges them to team up with us (GDNN) to design a Solution to the challenges the societal failure has imposed on these unlucky children so that we can work jointly with other similar concerned Associations or Organizations to transform them into useful citizens of our society.
“We call on Gen. T Y Danjuma, Alh. Aliko Dangote, Alhaji AbdulSamad Isiaka Rabiu, Alhaji Dahiru Mangal and Alhaji Muhammadu Indimi, just to mention a few, and to humbly request each of them to delegate one person to work with us in designing a sustainable solution to the unfortunate situation these young boys have found themselves including young girls in drugs consumption misfortune so that their lives can be improved through an effective rehabilitation and engagement program.
“On the energy supply side deficiency, the GDNN notes that Electricity supply hovering between 4,000 – 5,000 MW for a population of more than 200 million Nigerians is grossly inadequate as it works out to an average annual electricity consumption per capita of about 152-190 kWh while the average figure for sub-Saharan Africa is about 500 kWh and that of the world is about 3,000 kWh.
“GDNN further calls on governments of the northern states to take advantage of this opportunity and set up their electricity markets as quickly as possible. Suppose any state in the North has any difficulty with how to do it. The GDNN can be of assistance in that regard. This is because of the imminent decentralisation of the National Grid, which is the way out of its incessant collapse.
“Apart from Hydro Power Plants, the Northern States have the greatest solar energy potential as well as the availability of huge reserves of coal for clean coal power plants and Uranium for Nuclear Power Plants to harvest preparatory to utilise as fuel to the plants.
“The GDNN further calls, once again, on all the governors of the North, as a reminder, to collectively syndicate a single loan facility that enables them as collective stakeholders interested in the Economic Growth and Development of the North to complete the A-K-K Gas Pipeline Project (Ajaokuta-Abuja-Kano) as they will all be beneficiaries of the industrial development facilitation.
“The GDNN is accordingly calling on all the State Governors of the North to also syndicate another common facility to invest in Digital Transformation Planning (DTP) to enable them jointly intra-network the entire North digitally and
technologically, and to harvest the benefits technology now delivers to countries that have no other resources than human resources developed to support their economies using digital technology,” he added.
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