Chairman Board of Trustees (BoT) of Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SABMF) and former Governor of Niger state, Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu, has lamented that despite Sardauna’s legacies, northern region has continued to embrace poverty.
He said that while late Sir Ahmadu Bello laboured to unite the north regardless of ethnicity, tribe or religion and left credible legacies, these have not been emulated in recent times, as the northern region has continued to be mired in poverty, while other regions of the country are running away from poverty.
Speaking in his welcome address at a dinner organised in honour of the out gone management team and the new management team of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation on Monday night in Kaduna, Dr Muazu stressed that education was key and northerners need to be properly educated if they must break out of the yoke of the poverty-ridden region.
“The Northern states are behind every other states of the federation, Northerners are friends to poverty, while other regions are running away from poverty, the northern states are embracing poverty. We need something that will unite the North regardless of political parties or ethnicity.
“For many years now, no conscious efforts to fight poverty has been made commensurate to the growing population of the region. We need to unite to fight poverty and to get qualitative population equally required to fight poverty alongside investment in education,” he said.
The out gone Managing Director Dr. Ali Shettima disclosed that over the period of nine years, the foundation has spent over N2 billion on various projects including scholarship award to indigent students and assistance to organizations.
He urged his successor to build on the good legacies he has left behind and improve on areas of his weakness if there are.
The new Managing Director, Engr. Abubakar Gambo Umar, admitted that his new assignment is challenging but pledged to alongside other team members do their best in ensuring that the motive of setting up the Foundation is always achieved.
