Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Friday issued one of his bluntest warnings yet to Northern leaders, declaring that the region risks permanent stagnation unless it confronts its deepening divisions, failing education system, collapsing industries, and widening agricultural deficits.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the 25th anniversary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Atiku praised the Forum for surviving \u201cthe thick and thin\u201d of a turbulent quarter-century but said the time for celebration must give way to sober reflection.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnniversaries are for reflection,\u201d he said. \u201cWe must wake up from our complacency. We cannot stagnate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atiku recounted how, in 1999, he helped midwife the ACF by uniting a fractured North. He described dispatching a committee led by the Emir of Ilorin to merge rival political blocs and restore cohesion to the region\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
But he warned that Northern unity\u2014once the region\u2019s greatest asset\u2014has weakened to a dangerous level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe major issue with our unity is our failure to manage our diversity,\u201d he said, pointing to countries like China and India as models of inclusive development. \u201cWhy can\u2019t we do better?\u201d<\/p>\n
He accused unnamed actors of exploiting ethnic and religious tensions using technology to destabilise the region.
\n\u201cTheir target is our God-given wealth,\u201d he cautioned.<\/p>\n
Atiku\u2019s most forceful critique came in his assessment of the North\u2019s development trajectory. Revisiting the goals of Sir Ahmadu Bello\u2014education, agriculture, and industry\u2014he said the region had strayed far from the path of progress.<\/p>\n
He detailed the early 2000s Northern Development Program he championed, which exposed the \u201cshambolic\u201d state of Northern education, revived teacher training, and doubled school enrollment in several states. But he lamented that two decades later, many of the same problems persist.<\/p>\n
On industry, he was even more blunt:
\n\u201cAmazingly, two decades later, we appear still to be where we were.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atiku painted a stark picture of the coming demographic storm, noting that Nigeria\u2019s population is projected to hit 300 million by 2030.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do we feed this population? How do we educate it? How do we provide jobs for the teeming youth in their hundreds of millions?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe competitive environment of the 21st century will not accept complacency,\u201d he warned. \u201cIt will not accept absentee leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a closing appeal heavy with historical symbolism, Atiku urged Northern leaders to live up to the legacy of Sir Ahmadu Bello and resist the temptation of selfish politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow would we like to be remembered?\u201d he asked. \u201cAs people who made necessary sacrifices\u2014or as people who only buttered their bread?\u201d<\/p>\n
He ended with a rallying cry:
\n\u201cIf there is any time for the North to unite, it is now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Friday issued one of his bluntest warnings yet to Northern leaders, declaring that the region risks permanent stagnation unless it confronts its deepening divisions, failing education system, collapsing industries, and widening agricultural deficits. Speaking at the 25th anniversary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Atiku praised the Forum for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":96149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1459,4377,1666,55,7547],"class_list":["post-96148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-1459","tag-acf","tag-anniversary","tag-atiku","tag-unite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=96148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=96148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=96148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=96148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}