Agriculture, the mainstay of Northern Nigeria, used to be source of
food, foreign exchange earner and employment for Northerners, indeed Nigerians. With the discovery of oil however, it has been relegated to the background. ABDULRAHEEM AODU reports that governors of Northwest states have re-strategised to revive the sector.
Following the economic downturn in Nigeria arising from dwindling federal allocations in the aftermath of the fall in global prices of crude oil, all tiers of government in Nigeria had to look inwards to seek alternative sources of income to achieve their financial needs and responsibilities to their people.
Northern state governments, who don’t benefit from the derivation fund, are more hit by the dwindling resources to the extent that paying workers’ salaries for most of them has become herculean task.
However, instead of sitting down and whining over their financial challenges, Governors of the seven North west states of Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa and Kaduna have held series of meeting to strategise and discuss how they can revive agriculture to make it the hub of development using their common heritage as strength.
The North west used to boast of agriculture produce like wheat, rice, tomato, onion, pepper, sweet potato, shea butter, sugar cane, vegetables, ginger, cotton, maize, groundnut, millet, guinea corn, cassava among others.
The states were told by the committee of economic experts on the revival of their economy that agriculture remains their best option to resuscitate their economy, boost their revenue and ensure food
security for the people. The agriculture action plan also have the added advantage of creating massive job opportunities for the teeming youths and adults, men and women in the states.
The latest of such meeting was hosted by Governor Nasir el-Rufai in Kaduna state last Sunday at the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, Kaduna, where the North west Governors met with economic experts and lending institutions to discuss how to develop agriculture to boost the income and economy of the sub region.
According to the Governors, closer collaboration among all stakeholders and regional integration are key ingredients for the expansion and sustenance of agricultural activities in the region.
The meeting had in attendance Governors Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto, Aminu Masari of Katsina, Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi, Abubakar Badaru of Jigawa, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, host Governor, Nasirel-Rufai of Kaduna, and Deputy Governor of Zamfara state, Ibrahim Wakkala.
The meeting, under the coordination of the Usman Bugaje-led Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), had representations from African Development Bank (AfDB), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigeria Export Import Bank (NEXIM), Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, Sassakawa Global 2000, who briefed the Governors on ways to make agriculture the pivot of their economies.
Speaking after the meeting, Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna state said the meeting aimed at strategising on how to revive, boost and promote agriculture in the sub region, with the aim of making
agriculture the hub of economic activities in the sub region.
“We discussed agriculture development in the North West and we have received reports from the committee of experts set up to study how to revive the economy of the North West and their first report was on the development of agriculture.
“So we decided to have a meeting of the Governors, the experts and the financial institutions that are lending in the agriculture sector. We have spent the last few hours discussing their report and recommendations on how we can revive, boost and promote agriculture in the seven states of North West.”
Governor el-Rufai insisted that they planned to walk their talk to ensure that whatever decision they arrived at will not be jettisoned as is done in the past, but rather be fully implemented, as they are committed to achieving their aim of improving the lots of their people and boost the economy of the North West through agriculture.
According to el-Rufai the North West Governors are new set of leaders committed to their people and to President Muhammadu Buhari, noting that nothing would make them renege on the commitments.
“We are a new party of change all the governors of North West zone are APC governors, we have made a commitment to our leader President Muhammadu Buhari to do whatever it is to improve the lot of our people and I’m confident that with the commitment from my colleagues we will make a difference this time around.”
Also speaking after the meeting, Sokoto state Governor, Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, said the states working together will ensure access to finance, and improvement of infrastructure that will support the
sector. He said North west has competitive advantage in key agriculture areas and they will seek to exploit it for the development of their people and the sub region.
“In Sokoto state, we have advantage with cash crops like wheat, rice, tomato and onions. Others have such advantages with crops like ginger, cotton, maize and other cereal crops.
“So when we tap all these resources together, pool investment and promote avenues of access to finance, the sector will be transformed and its real value will come to the fore,” Tambuwal added.
For Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina state, the governors intend to turn around the fortunes of their people using agriculture as the vehicle to drive their economy to prosperity.
“The meeting is a continuation of what we have been doing, we were here two weeks ago and we agreed to meet here again to continue to discuss the economic fortune in the Northwest.
“We want to build a structure that would actualise the dream of the people of Northwest and their aspirations to put the Northwest on the map in terms of being economically independent.
“We took presentations from financial institutions African Development Bank represented by the Country Director, we received briefing from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), NEXIM Bank, Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry and others,” Masari said.
