Northern Leaders Must Wake Up – Aliko Dangote

Nigerian Billionaire, Aliko Dangote recently tasked Northern leaders to snap out of their sleep and offer quality leadership that will improve the North from extreme poverty to what it should be.

He shared that the investment it would take to provide employment will only be made available by private investors but he urged the government to ensure there is a good environment to entice these investors to the North.

He disclosed that if 19 northern states had ten governors that worked like Nasir El Rufai, the region would be a better place.

His words, “Nigeria is bedivelled with many developmental challenges but with abundant capital,human and natural resources. Our country human developmental indicators rank poorly when compared with h global averages. Nigeria is ranked at 157 out of 189 countries in the areas of human development index.

“While the over all social economic considerations in the country is a cause for concern, the regional imperative are infact very alarming. In the north western and North eastern part of Nigeria, more than 60% of the population live in extreme poverty. It is instructive to know that the 19 northern states which account for over 54% of the country’s population and 70% of its landmass collectively generated only 21% of the total sub national internally Generated Revenue in 2017.

“Northern Nigeria will continue to fall behind if respective state governments do not move to close the development gap and that is why we are always saying that the biggest challenge we have and what We are always praying for is to have ten governors like Mallam Nasir El Rufai’s.

“Closing this gap requires multi layer investment and government will not be able to muster the needed funds. Only private sector can raise the amount of capital require to find the kind of investment required. Government must create a conducive environment that will trigger a huge inflow mof private capital into the private sector of the economy. Private investment will create jobs and will go Long way to erase the challenge of unemployment and poverty. As more people get employed, you will notice a sharp decline in some of the social vices now prevalent in our society. Kaduna State is a shining example of this. While several states are taking steps in this direction, only a few like Kaduna are making visible progress.

“As the capital of the former northern region, Kaduna continues to lead on several matrix. Kaduna currently has the highest WAEC pass rate in the north and second highest IGR generation in the northern part of the region after Kano”