The Arewa Economic Renewal Forum (AERF) has challenged the political class to bring forth a clear roadmap for the emancipation of northern Nigeria, before they are considered for election as the date draws near.
The forum whose membership comprises businessmen, ICT specialists, security experts, academics, and seasoned technocrats, said it will mobilize the masses of the region to vote for any of the presidential candidates with the best blueprint to solve the existential problems facing the Arewa people.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, the chairman of the forum, Ibrahim Shehu Dandakata, lamented that the north is at the receiving end of everything that is wrong with the country, from poverty to insecurity, unemployment and out-of-school children.
He stated that the north is the most endowed yet the most marginalized part of the country.
Dandakata added that the country’s leaders have left the north’s massive potential in agriculture to rot away.
“The resultant consequence for our region is poverty, substandard education, lack of acess to credit financing and other negative underdevelopment indicators.
“No doubt the size and dimension of the population of the Northern region displace in terms of size any other African country apart from Nigeria itself. In other words, if this region would have been a country of its own, it would still remain the most populous country in Africa and one of the 10 most populous in the world.
“The Northern region of the federation accounts for over 70% of the total arable landmass in Nigeria, geologically created in such an advantageous way that it could allow for 12 months or agriculture as it is traversed by river basins and aquatic reservoirs that would allow for three seasons of harvest every year, yet, only about 23% of the landmass is fully utilized for agricultural purposes.