Northern Nigeria has made a clear demand from the new President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, asking him to prioritize security of the region, through revival of the agricultural sector to provide mass employment for the youths, many of whom were being recruited into crime and terrorism.

Speaking with journalists in Kaduna, Director of the famous Arewa House, Kaduna, Dr. Shuaibu Shehu Aliyu, said the region has a strong conviction that if Tinubu can employ and apply his capacity and ability as he did to transform Lagos, the North and the rest of the country will prosper under his administration.

“We must look at the agric value chain in terms of production, processing and marketing. We have land. We have the weather. We have the people. We have everything we need to become the agric hub of the country. Government just needs to build processing factories so we don’t have to transport our farm produce from the North to the South for processing and marketing.

“We need technological-driven agric practices to enable us to produce more than what we can consume internally. From here to Dakar, there is no barrier and that is a huge market for us. So, improvement in agriculture and power are enough to address insecurity in the North because the issue of insecurity is largely aggravated by unemployment”, he said.

Speaking further, he said, “we also want to extend our congratulatory message to all new governors elected on their respective political party platforms. We pray and hope they will build on the good their predecessors left and also make amends where necessary. A situation whereby a new administration will abandon inherited projects that have gulped good resources will not help us. We pray God will help them to navigate difficult terrain both at the federal and state levels.”

On subsidy removal he said, over time, both the government and economists have been saying subsidy is not sustainable given the global oil regime and our forex capacity. (The Nation)

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