•Yakubu Dogara
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, yesterday, declared that Northern Nigeria is operating under a curse in view of the incessant bloodletting in the region occasioned by insecurity.
Dogara, who was one of the panelists at the Northern Nigeria Investment and Industrialisation Summit 2025, organised by Northern Elders Forum in Abuja, said the Northern region cannot witness rapid industrialisation from investors unless the nagging issue of insecurity is addressed, reports Daily Independent.
He challenged the Northern elite and all key stakeholders in the region to brace up for the challenges confronting the region, adding that “help is not coming from anywhere, we have to take our destiny in our hands.”
According to Dogara, “Like I said, we need to depart from doing business as usual and to do something that’s radical and transformative.
“I want us as Northerners to accept the fact that help is not coming from anywhere, we have to take our destiny in our hands.
“First of all, what is the militating factor against the realisation of Northern potentials?
“Number one is the issue of security. And I think it will amount to a travesty, if we don’t address that at this summit.
“My take is that with the kind of bloodletting we are witnessing in the North, if you are a person of faith, you will know that we are operating under a curse because it is human blood.
“And the effect of curse is that you sweat without results. And that is why we are sweating in this part of the country without any manifest result.”
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives tasked 19 Northern governors to pool resources together to tackle insecurity in the region.
He pointed out that unless the high rate of insecurity is addressed in the region, it would amount to waste of time, energy and resources discussing the economic transformation of the region.
“What we’re talking about here will amount to nothing in the midst of insecurity.
“We have to resolve that, even if it means pooling out resources across all the 19 states to tackle this.
“Once we have done that, the next question to ask is how are we processing the funds that come to the North?
“Somebody has said here that now so much funds are going to the states and the subnationals.”
Dogara also criticised Northern governors for embarking on grandiose projects that do not have any direct bearing on the welfare of the people.
He said: “We are seeing instead of the governors cooperating, they are competing.
“We are seeing flyovers everywhere, flyovers that lead to nowhere.
“It is not leading you to a productive plan, it is not leading you to an established market, you just fly over and you think you have arrived.
“No, but we can use the dividends we can get from those joint ventures to build the roads, to develop education and all other social institutions.”
Also speaking, former Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, said Northern Nigeria needs purposeful and deliberate leaders at all levels to transform the region.
Saraki, who decried the absence of top government officials and business moguls from the Northern extraction at the summit, added that decision-makers and implementers of the Northern plan must be involved.
He noted that economic power and infrastructural reform would drive the progress of the region.
He further called for the development of legislative framework, adding that policies are not enough to drive development in the region.
The former Senate President further called for collaboration between the public and private sectors in a bid to explore the comparative advantage of the region.
The theme of the two-day summit is ‘Unlocking Strategic Opportunity in Mining, Agriculture and Power (MAP).’
