Former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, has called for visionary leadership, so as to address the challenges facing Northern Nigeria.
Atiku, at a lecture on the 25th anniversary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Kaduna on Friday, also said the future of the region depends on quality education, health care and job opportunities for the youths.
The former vice president, who recounted the journey of the forum in the past 25 years, noted that prior to the formation, the region was divided.
“There were numerous platforms, prominently the Turaki group around late President Shehu Shagari, a group around late Dr Sola Saraki, and yet another around the late Abdurrahman Okene,” he recalled.
He, however, stated that they were able to unite the region with the help of a team of senior citizens led by the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, which went round the length and breadth of the North, inviting these different groups to come together under one platform.
Atiku called for unity in the region, arguing that the major problem is the failure to manage the region’s diversity.
“The North is not the most diverse part of the world,” he said, stating that China, for example, has 56 different ethnic groups.
“By far the most diverse nation in the world is India, which is home to an astonishing 2,500 distinct ethnic groups.
“Yet these countries have been able to manage their diversities and to make concrete strides in development. Why can’t we do better?” he asked.
Atiku alleged that North’s adversaries are working to drive a wedge between them, “often fabricating stories and capitalising on our fears of the other, using technology, to sow seeds of discord.
“Their target is our God-given wealth. We have seen the Democratic Republic of Congo, and we must not relent.
“We need to have a leadership with the ability to accommodate the various ethnic and religious groups, in whose hands all can feel safe, and who will be fair and equitable in the distribution of the natural resources as well as all other opportunities in the country.”
Atiku said if there is any time for the North to unite, it is now, and expressed the hope that they will resist those trying to divide the region along ethnic or religious lines and rise above these differences; “look at the challenges on the horizon and come together as the one people we have always been.”
He appealed to Northern leaders to rise to the numerous challenges facing the region.
