Gov. Yusuf, other North West Governors push for UN intervention

Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of Kano state on Friday joined his North West counterparts on an advocacy meeting with the officials of the United Nations in Abuja.

Those at the meeting alongside Gov. Yusuf are Governors of Kaduna State, Uba Sani; Katsina State, Ummaru Dikko Radda; Jigawa State, Mohammad Namadi; Zamfara State, Dauda Lawan Dare and the Deputy Governor of Sokoto State who represented the Governor.

The Governors’ meeting with officials of the United Nations was compelled by unfolding developmental challenges bedevilling the states within the region and the urgent need to solicit international interventions in the region across critical areas of the economy.

A statement by Sanusi Bature Dawakin-Tofa, the Spokesperson to Kano state Governor explained the Governors in the region pushed for development agenda for the Northwest.

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The statement emphasized that the first joint meeting of the North West Governors with the UN officials enabled avalanch of opportunity to relate issues on health,  education, security, agriculture and other salient matters overstretching the capacity of States.

In their collective submissions, the North West Governors sought for accelerated interventions of the United Nations through its agencies and volunteers to rescue the region from multiple concerns threatening the survival of the region.

“The governors highlighted the major challenges faced by the region, including insecurity, multidimensional poverty, a large population of out-of-school children, increased cases of illicit drug abuse, high child and maternal mortality, and a large youth population that is unemployed.

“They indicated that nearly 80 per cent of the population derive their livelihoods from agriculture, however, they face the challenges of land degradation and climate change, which have reduced their yields. The governors also highlighted the high levels of child malnutrition.

“They also committed to providing the strong political support needed to ensure that UN interventions in the North West are implemented with speed and at scale.”

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The chairman of the North West Governors Forum Dr. Umar Dikko Radda was quoted to have said: “The only way we can surmount the challenges of the North West is through a regional approach, which demands that we work together in a coordinated manner. We need to collectively fight poverty and unemployment, being the major root causes of insecurity in the region.”

Recall that the North West Governors were recently hosted on a security symposium by the US Institute of Peace to broaden knowledge on strengthening conflict prevention in the region.

The three days US conference, attended by Governors of Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Kaduna, Niger, Sokoto, Kebbi, Jigawa,and Plateau states, was designed to support the states address insecurity in Northern Nigeria and better option to mitigate the challenge.

The intensive executive engagement enable the Governors of some of the trouble states deepen understanding on the dynamics of security threat, it’s socioeconomic dimensions, and near-term opportunities to drive stability in Northern Nigeria.

The 2023 new crop of Governors have, for the first time in the political history of the region, collectively agreed to nurture a regional development agenda in key areas of human endeavour under the leadership of Katsina state Governor Ummaru Dikko Radda.