Governors of the 19 Northern States and traditional rulers of the region are meeting in Kaduna over security challenges bedeviling the region.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the two-day meeting, which opened on Thursday, is also being attended by Senate President, Ahmad Lawal, Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari and Information Minister, Lai Mohammed.
Others are National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Mohammed Monguno, Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Ibrahim and Director General, State Security Service, Yusuf Bichi.
The participants are expected to discuss current security challenges bedevilling the Northern region and youth unemployment.
Governors at the meeting, holding at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House, include those of Plateau, Adamawa, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Jigawa and Katsina.
Niger, Zamfara, Yobe, Benue, Kogi, Kabbi were represented by Deputy Governors of the states, among others.
At their last meeting on Nov. 2, 2020, the Northern Governors had set up two committees to push for statutory roles for traditional rulers and another on youth and civil societies.
The committee on roles of traditional rulers is chaired by the Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage, with two representatives from the National Assembly, one from each of the three zones, and a minister as members.
The Committee on Youth and Civil Societies has the Emir of Zazzau, Amb. Ahmad Bamalli as Chairman, with one representative of elders, youth, women, persons with disability as members from each of the three zones.
The November meeting had also backed efforts to regulate the spread of fake news through the social media. In his welcome
remarks, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, charged his colleagues to search for solutions fast, saying “our people are in dire straits”
1. I wish to welcome my brother governors and our traditional rulers to this meeting. It is coming at a moment of when our region and our country are confronting monumental perils. Fate has entrusted with a duty, not only to provide a shelter from the storm, but also to help find a way to remove the triggers of the storm. In discharge of this obligation, many of us continue to engage in nationwide efforts to avert anarchy and advance the prospects of securing a breakthrough moment for our country.
2. The northern states are especially affected by these tensions and challenges. In many of our states, criminal elements are wrecking the rural economy, driving our farmers from their fields, threatening lives and livelihoods and putting food security at risk. Communal tensions persist in some places, setting up ethnicity and religion as sources of conflict. We continue to grapple with the challenge of protecting our youth from the vice of substance abuse, and empowering them with skills and jobs.
3. The agenda for today’s meeting reflects an awareness of these challenges and our determination to address them. I am delighted to note that we shall be considering the reports of committees we charged last year to propose measures on security, regional economic development, youth engagement and how to better involve our traditional institutions in governance that will contribute in making our region better.
4. Working with our traditional institutions, community and civic leaders, we need to accelerate efforts to avail our region every chance to successfully engage the challenges and possibilities of the 21st Century. We need enduring peace and security to ensure that our people can prosper and that our states can develop. Amidst the fears and despairs of the moment, we have a chance to offer hope and buoy up the spirit of our people.
5. Our people are looking up to us for solutions. We need peace and security in the north and Nigeria. There is no time to engage in analysis-paralysis. There is no room to trading blame. There is no space for partisanship. Our people are in dire straits. We must discharge our duty as leaders to them by collaborating across all divides to solve the challenges that confront our region and Nigeria.
6. I wish us successful deliberations. Thank you for listening. God Bless Northern Nigeria. God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.