Kaduna State Governor, Mukhtar Ramalan Yero has called on the 19 states that make up the North to initiate a harmonized development plan that will ensure rapid economic growth and infrastructural development.
Speaking at the commissioning of Secretariat of the Sardauna Foundation, Monday in Kaduna, the Governor said the time had come for the entire North to reflect on the times of the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, Premier of the defunct Northern Region by introducing policies and programmes that will directly touch on the citizenry.
He wondered how the North had retrogressed since the demise of the late Sardauna saying “we keep talking about the legacies of Sardauna but we are yet to act like him. What happened to the North since his demise, is it of leadership or followership?”
Yero, therefore, called for a unified development plan which all 19 State Governments will key into saying “let me suggest the adoption of a common development plan for the entire region. It is time for us to revisit the development model of the late Sardauna, which has the entire North as a single entity.
“Such plan can be gradually implemented through selection of some key sectors. For instance, we can have a common development plan in agriculture value chain, transport and education. The success of such can be measured over a period of time and more sectors are added. This will surely be of great benefit to our people.”
The Governor urged the region to take advantage of its market size and advantage in agriculture production, adding that “we must take advantage of our number as a huge market, by becoming more productive and less dependent.
“No people ever developed by being solely dependent on resources from outside. It is also time for northern leaders to begin to plan for post-oil era. The present global oil market realities should be of concern to all of us.”
The commissioning ceremony was attended by several dignitaries from across the North, including Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, Dr. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule, Justice Mamman Nasir and a host of others.
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