Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state has decried the lack of quality leaders in Northern Nigeria 56 years after the death of the region’s first and only Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto.
Addressing the 7th Annual Lecture on Leadership and Good Governance, tagged “COVID-19: Way Forward for Northern Nigeria Economy”, organised by Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, el-Rufai noted that Ahmadu Bello was the greatest leader the North ever had.
However, economic experts at the event are optimistic that if Northern Nigeria can do the right thing to harness its potentials, it would witness significant improvements to its poor economic status and index.
According to el-Rufai, “Ahmadu Bello was the greatest leader North ever had. Almost 60 years after his death his name still stands out. We must improve the quality of our leaders in the North. We must produce leaders that care for the people. I don’t mean political leaders alone, also leaders in public service, in the military, in the traditional institutions and the religion. We need quality leaders.
“Nigeria population will be about 500 million by 2050. We must provide jobs for the population especially in the North”.
Speaking on the theme, the governor said he brought Covid-19 to Kaduna state, “a governor infected me with COVID-19 virus and I brought it to Kaduna. I was locked up for 26 days. My wives ran away from me, 50,000 people in Kaduna would have died of COVID-19 last year, but for the fact that Kaduna state was the first to lock down.
“I am happy to say that because of COVID-19, we have been able to put in place infections disease wards in our hospitals. People travel around the world so there may be Covid- 25 or 30. With what is happening in India, the situation is scary. But God has been very kind to us.”
