Socio-cultural group Arewa Consultative Forum has called on northern leaders to improve the region’s economy in order to create a better future for the younger generations.
According to a statement on Monday by the Borno State Government, the forum made the call during a visit to Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum on Sunday in Maiduguri.
One of the leaders of the forum Audu Ogbeh, a former minister of agriculture and rural development, was quoted as saying: “We are depressed, very depressed. And anyone of us, of our age, who was not depressed, he was not well-born. Because we have nothing to leave behind for our children, and violence will not sustain us. The tragedy of the North today is that the only industry left is politics, and politics alone has never grown any society.
“We have to re-grow Borno State, we have to re-grow the north, we have to re-grow Nigeria. We have no industries, agriculture has declined and our own children have now turned to violence as a means of livelihood. Your Excellency, in ACF we have decided that we will not talk too much politics, we decided to focus on something else, we are going to start a program of developing small-scale agro-industries across the north.”
The forum also condemned the attack on rice farmers in Zabarmari community, describing it as “barbaric and inhumane.”
