Ministers and top officials in President Bola Tinubu’s administration are gathering at the Arewa House in Kaduna to give accounts of the federal government’s performance over the past two years.
The forum, organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation (SAMBF), will allow political, traditional and religious leaders from the 19 northern states to meet with the federal officials on Tuesday and Wednesday and assess how well the administration has delivered on the electoral promises made during the 2023 campaign, especially those targeted at their region.
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Tinubu’s promises
Mr Tinubu had, in March 2021, at the annual Arewa House Lectures, which he chaired in the same Arewa House in Kaduna, called for massive investment in job creation to address the economic and security challenges of the region.
The lecture’s theme was “Reduction of the Cost of Governance for Inclusive Growth and Youth Development in Northern Nigeria in a Post-COVID-19 Era.”
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He said the government must think creatively in finding solutions to the challenges posed by unemployment. According to him, frustration and despair among the youth were largely caused by chronic poverty and the breakdown of social institutions.
“Building vital infrastructures such as irrigation and water catchment systems will help agriculture, arrest desertification, and provide jobs.
“Another readily available area primed for investment is the agro-allied industry, which, for the northern region, is particularly advantageous,” he said.
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On the herder/farmer dispute, he said the government “must appreciate that martial security measures alone will not suffice.
“We cannot resolve this problem by holding on to one-dimensional answers. We must all be dispassionate in our search for solutions. These challenges are multifaceted, and so the solutions must be.
“The issue of insecurity, unemployment, and extremism has many things to do with governance, over time. We must tackle our deep and widespread poverty.
“If we limit the government’s role under the erroneous assumption that government spending is intrinsically unproductive, then we tether ourselves to failure.
“The development of any populous nation has always been dependent on the ability of the government to allocate sufficient funds to projects and programmes that create and encourage enduring growth and employment,” Mr Tinubu said in 2021.
Five years later, President Tinubu’s officials have returned to the same venue to explain how much of what he promised in 2021 and during electioneering in 2023 has been delivered.
The theme for the current engagement is: Assessing Electoral Promises Fostering Government- Citizens Engagement for National Unity.
According to the organisers, the event is a direct follow-up to pre-election engagements with the leading presidential candidates, where they unveiled their manifestos and made public commitments to advancing development in the North.
A participant, Ibrahim Musa, said the citizen engagement programme will also allow citizens and community leaders to voice their concerns and assess the president’s two-year performance.
“My expectations from the event are what the government will say about the security challenges bedevilling the North-west region. You know, we in Kaduna, our major issue is security. Our people in the rural communities who are largely farmers are not secure, they cannot go to farm,” Mr Musa said.
“I came to listen, but if given the opportunity to speak, I will,” said another participant, John Bala.
The Chairperson of the Ahmadu Bello Foundation and former Governor of Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, said the event is a public scrutiny of the two-year performances of the Tinubu administration, urging the participants to engage the officials constructively.
Mr Aliyu said the foundation is not partisan but a platform advocating innovation, good leadership, and holding leaders accountable for their promises during elections.
He took a jab at a former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso, whom he didn’t mention by name at the event. Mr Kwankwaso had accused President Tinubu of favouring the South in his development projects.
In a veiled reaction to the accusation, Mr Aliyu, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said politicians who speak about lopsided resource allocation should be mindful of their utterances and learn to allow governance after an election.
READ ALSO: Northern stakeholders meeting with Tinubu’s officials begins in Kaduna
The event is being attended by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu; Secretary to the Federal Government, George Akume; Ministers of Defence, Muhammad Badaru and Bello Matawalle; and the Minister of Information, Muhammed Idris. Also on the ground are the Minister of State, FCT, Mariya Bunkure; Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; Minister of State, Housing and Urban Development, Abdullahi Attah; Minister of Livestock Development, Idris Maiha; and the Minister of State for Works, Bello Goronyo.
Also attending are the Chairperson of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfata Ahmed; Governor of Gombe State, Inuwa Yahaya; former governor of Kano, Ibrahim Shekarau; former governor of Kaduna, Ramalan Yero; and the host governor, Uba Sani. Others are the Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, Arewa Consultative Forum, Bashir Dalhatu, and the representative of Vice President Kashim Shettima, Aliyi Modibo.
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