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OP-UNEDITED | Northern Govs Meeting in Kaduna: Was It Business as Usual? – By Murtala Adogi Mohammed

By Murtala Adogi Mohammed

Couple of days ago Northern Governors met in Kaduna for about two days 23 – 24 January 2017 Trying to come up with some solutions to northern and national problems…. But I’m yet to see any document or documented efforts/plans such as…. Regional Strategic Operational Plans aimed at addressing the challenges; Regional Costed Plan/Medium Term Expenditures Framework and which state is contributing what; Regional Monitoring of Impact Framework MIF – Who is to track the results? Or is it a business as usual?

For instance, let’s take the issue of youth unemployment as an issue that the northern Governors are trying to address. From Kebbi to Maiduguri down to Benue and Kogi States it’s the same story of youth unemployment, wide spread of poverty and lack of concrete, realistic and sincere commitment from the supplying side – the government towards lifting youth of poverty.

The worst part of it all is paucity of data about unemployed youth in northern Nigeria. No single northern Governor will tell how many of his state’s youth are unemployed…. this is a Calamity! The World Bank in 2013 also stated in its annual report on Nigeria that poverty was concentrated more in Northern parts of Nigeria. Negative narratives of violence further worsen the situation and religious extremism associated with northern Nigeria.

Meanwhile northern Nigeria, which consists of 19 states of Nigeria’s 36 states, has a huge bulge of youth population that can be empowered to harness their potentials through entrepreneurial and innovative ventures that can increase wealth creation among youth in the region In Northern Nigeria, poverty is a crisis that is habitual and it conveys message of hardship difficult to deny. It speaks publicly through visible misery, persisting destitution, endemic hunger and visible malnutrition. Consequent upon this is the fact that poverty has become more than before a serious social problem and tops the country’s list of policy priorities.

In Northern Nigeria, I see poverty as a form of disempowerment that can be viewed from three dimensions: socio-economic, political and psychological. To me, socioeconomic disempowerment refers to relative lack of access to the resources essential for livelihood; political disempowerment refers to lack of clear political agenda and voice; while psychological disempowerment relates to people’s internalized sense of worthlessness and passive submission to authority On arrival to major road axis, roundabout, nucleus of all northern states, it is impossible not to notice the multitude of aimless young people, wearing tattered dressed and unkempt streams of child baggers, hawkers, and “Benelyn Boys” (BB).

The unemployed and other forms of out-of-school youth in northern Nigeria have been deeply affected by the Nigeria’s economic crises and lack both education and economic opportunities. Many feel hopeless at a time when they should be optimistic about the future. Lacking education, skills, or support, they are at risk of being trapped in a cycle of poverty and never realizing their full potential.

Youths responding to The Baseline Report survey conducted by USAID in Kano in 2003 were asked to describe the causes of conflicts in Kano. While most stated that they participated in political rallies, none of them listed a single reason, such as government or ethnicity, as the cause of the conflicts. Instead, they listed drinking, area boys, poverty and unemployment as the main causes.

Nineteen northern Governors need to urgently develop a short, medium and the long term strategy for youth empowerment, also at state level, there is need for advanced and well-coordinated innovation for engaging youth across the country.

No region or nation aspiring to major national greatness can afford to ignore the youths and allow them to constitute a major social problem. They are a vital source of manpower and do possess leadership potentials, can acquire knowledge, and are full of future promises. Once these innate potentials in them are fully exploited and properly channelled, their contributions to national development can be immense.

I will conclude with the words of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he said and I quote… “In this landmark year, as leaders prepare to adopt a bold new vision for sustainable development, the engagement of youth is more valuable than ever. At this critical moment in history, I call on young people to demand and foster the dramatic progress so urgently needed in our world.”

 

By Murtala Adogi Mohammed, mamurtala@gmail.com 

_________ 

Inspired by Steve Biko’s ‘I Write What I Like‘, OP-UNEDITED is the citizen opinion segment of SIGNAL. All opinions posted on the OP-UNEDITED page are unedited and the raw opinions of the writers.

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