* Counters Ribadu’s claims on banditry, insurgency
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed deep concern over what it described as the growing marginalization of Northern Nigeria under the administration of President Bola Tinubu.
Chairman of ACF’s Board of Trustees (BoT), Bashir Dalhatu, stated this at a high-level interactive session between Northern civil society groups and senior officials of the Federal government in Kaduna.
The event was organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation.
Dalhatu recalled the region’s strong electoral support for President Tinubu, contributing over 64% of his total votes in the 2023 presidential election.
“Despite our support and goodwill, the feeling in the North is, to put it mildly, completely mixed. Key infrastructural projects, budgetary allocations, appointments, and policy decisions have largely sidelined Northern Nigeria,” Dalhatu said.
He cited critical areas of neglect, including insecurity, agriculture, transport infrastructure, power supply, education, healthcare, and the abandonment of strategic projects like the Ajaokuta Steel Plant and Kolmani oil exploration.
Speaking on insecurity, Dalhatu lamented the rising wave of terrorism, banditry, and kidnappings, urging the President to take strong, audacious and sustained action, especially by addressing root causes like youth unemployment and poverty.
His presentation ran counter to that of the National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, who claimed at the same forum that Tinubu’s government has effectively contained banditry and insurgency in the northern region.
Weighing in on agriculture, the ACF chair explained that the sector received less than 5% of the national budget in the past two years, far below the FAO’s recommended 25%.
He warned that the government’s decision to approve duty-free food imports had triggered a collapse of local agro-industrial businesses, particularly rice mills.