ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and industrialist Aliko Dangote have issued stern warnings to northern political and traditional leaders, cautioning that the region faces deeper insecurity, worsening poverty, and economic decline unless it urgently rebuilds unity and resets its development priorities.
Speaking at the 25th anniversary dinner of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Kaduna, Atiku said the North cannot afford complacency at a time when insecurity, mass poverty, and collapsing educational outcomes are eroding its future.
He warned that without a shared vision and a renewed commitment to development, “the region will stagnate and sink deeper into insecurity.”
Atiku praised previous ACF leaders for steering the body through “thick and thin,” but insisted that nostalgia must now give way to honesty, introspection and strategic planning.
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He recalled that upon assuming office in 1999, he championed efforts to reconcile the North’s fractured political blocs by establishing a unification committee chaired by the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari a process he credited with shaping the modern ACF.
Atiku stressed that the forum was designed not only to stabilise northern politics but to drive development in line with the legacy of Sir Ahmadu Bello.
He referenced the Sardauna’s 1961 blueprint prioritising education, agriculture, and industrial expansion, noting that those priorities remain even more urgent today.
The former Vice President highlighted past interventions such as the Northern Education Project, which exposed the region’s deteriorating school system and triggered reforms that improved enrolment and transition rates.Â
He also pointed to the Northern Development Project (NDP), which sought to revive agricultural value chains and confront climate-related productivity losses.
Yet, he lamented that the same obstacles energy shortages, multiple taxation and weak infrastructure continue to frustrate industries across the region two decades later.
Atiku further cautioned that diversity is increasingly being weaponised by adversaries exploiting fear and misinformation. He urged the North to learn from countries like India and China, which transformed their economies despite complex multicultural identities.
He challenged northern leaders to confront critical issues such as population growth, food security, education quality, job creation and readiness for a technology-driven global economy. “If ever there was a moment for the North to come together, that time is now,” he declared.
Also addressing the gathering, Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, linked the North’s slow development and rising insecurity to decades of policy inconsistency and severe electricity shortages.
He argued that many once-promising industries in the region collapsed because successive governments “kept shifting the goalpost,” discouraging investors.
Dangote recalled commissioning Arthur Andersen — now part of KPMG to investigate why northern textile giants and other major industrial players failed despite strong beginnings.
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The report, he said, attributed the decline largely to inconsistent policies and chronic power instability.
He revealed that the Dangote Group connects to public electricity grids only in South Africa and Ethiopia due to Nigeria’s unreliable power supply.
“Without electricity, you cannot have growth, no matter how hard you try,” he cautioned.
Dangote said today’s insecurity from banditry to youth unemployment is the direct outcome of long-term neglect and the absence of a coherent development strategy.
He urged northern leaders to pursue a stable, long-term economic roadmap anchored on education, agriculture and industrialisation, aligning with the vision earlier articulated by Atiku.
He added that although the North possesses the land and population to become West Africa’s agricultural hub, poor planning and inconsistent investment continue to hinder progress.
He warned that unless issues are addressed urgently, the region’s crises “will consume everyone, whether guilty or not.”