Select governors from the Northeast, Northwest and Northcentral geopolitical zones representing its 19 governors of the region, will Sunday begin a three-day meeting with top executives of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) at the bank’s headquarters in Jedda, Saudi Arabia capital about relevant steps and resources needed to rebuild the North.
The meeting is in continuation of efforts aimed at tackling the turbulent developmental challenges facing the Northern part of Nigeria.
The decision to seek critical development partnership with IDB was part of the resolutions reached by the 19 governors, irrespective of religious and political divides, at one of their meetings in September, 2015, in Kaduna, chaired by Governor Kashim Shettima, which deliberated on ways of tackling challenges of agriculture, poverty, education, maternal mortality and other problems most prevalent in the North than any other part of Nigeria.
Sunday is a working day in the Islamic country with Fridays and Saturdays being work free days.
Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima who is also Chairman of the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) is leading the delegation for talks with the multi-billion dollar financial institution.
Shettima is in company of Governors Tanko Al-Makura of Nassarawa, Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna and Mohammed Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State, top officials of the New Nigerian Development Company owned by the 19 northern states, select commissioners of agriculture, education, post-insurgency reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement, home affairs, economic planning, Dr Tanimu Yakubu Kurfi, former chief economic adviser to the late president Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, some technical resource consultants and facilitators engaged by the NSGF were received by a delegation of the IDB in Jedda on Saturday.
In a statement, spokesman to Governor Shettima, Malam Isa Gusau, who is also part of the delegation, said that at the opening of discussions in Jeddah today, the governors are expected to meet with the President, Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali and Vice President, Operations of the IDB Group at the bank’s headquarters and are scheduled to meet on Nigeria-IDB cooperation with a wide range of possible areas of collaboration to be discussed.
“In subsequent days, the governors are expected to hold different meetings with the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) and the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment & Export Credit (ICIEC), Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI), Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) all of which bodies are under the IDB, with a view to reaching a developmental partnership on different sectors in northern Nigeria,” the statement read in part.
Established about 41 years ago, IDB is an international financial institution involved in equity capital, finances productive projects for the economic and social development of 56 countries which are members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and supports Muslim communities including those in non-member countries, through special intervention funds set aside by the bank for international cooperation.
The bank also promotes foreign trade in capital goods; provides technical assistance to member countries; and extends training facilities for personnel engaged in development activities in Muslim populated communities around the world.
As a fallout of the Boko Haram insurgency that has ravaged large parts of the North, leading to loss of lives and destruction of property including critical infrastructure, there has arisen the need for redoubling of efforts towards the reconstruction of the region.
Last Monday, the Federal Government launched a Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) programme for the states in the North East in furtherance of its determination to rebuild and rehabilitate the region.
The Federal government-led initiative, which is in conjunction with the World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations, would be conducted within the framework of the Joint EU-UN-WB Declaration on international crisis recovery cooperation with the North-East states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, Taraba and Bauchi.
Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Mrs Mariam Uwais, said the RPBA would essentially build upon existing initiatives and body of work on the North East, produced at the federal and state levels. They include the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) and the North East States Transformation Strategy (NESTS).
In August 2015, Senate President Bukola Saraki, solicited the assistance of the international community for efforts by the Federal government to end the insurgency in the North-eastern part of the country, pointing out that such support would also help bring succour to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the area.
Saraki made the call in separate meetings with the German Ambassador to Nigeria Michael Zenner and his Spanish counterpart, Alfonso Barnudvo Sebastian De Erice, who paid courtesy visits to him in Abuja.
He stated that the humanitarian situation and level of destruction in the area ravaged by the insurgents required urgent and wide support across the world, adding that it was clear to him after leading a delegation of the Senate to visit the IDPs camps in Maiduguri for an on-the-spot assessment that the federal government alone could not foot the bills for total rehabilitation of the people and rebuilding of infrastructure damaged as a result of the activities of the insurgents.
Insecurity: Northern govs parley over cattle rustling, kidnapping in Kaduna
Governors from seven Northern states have met over insecurity concerns relating to cattle rustling in their states.
The governors at the meeting were the host Governor of Kaduna, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, Governor Aminu Bello Masari of Katsina, Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto and governors of Kebbi, Kano, Zamfara and Niger states.
The meeting held behind closed doors at the Kaduna Government House is the fourth of such.
In late July 2015, the joint security task force operating in the forest in Birnin Gwari local government area of Kaduna State, killed three armed robbers and recovered over 850 stolen cattle.
Addressing journalists after the meeting, the Chairman of the occasion and Governor of Katsina State Aminu Bello Masari, said after reviewing the efforts of security agencies in the area, it was necessary to allow them to continue with the operation in order to stamp out criminals from the forest.
He said, they had tamed rustling in the forest and will now tackle kidnapping, which is a fallout of rustling in the area.
Governor Masari said, “The essence of the meeting is to appraise the security situation concerning cattle rustling in the zone and other activities going on in Kamuku Forest.
“This forest borders Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano, Kebbi, Katsina, and Niger. We have reviewed operations within those areas. I think we have made tremendous achievements, considering the number of stolen animals that were recovered from the forest.
“Over 30,000 cattle were recovered across the states bordering the forest. As you can see now, the activities of the rustlers have reduced much. We are expecting to sustain this,” he said.
On the issue of kidnapping, Masari described it as a fall-out of the fight against rustling, saying some of the rustlers may have decided to go into kidnapping since they have been blocked from stealing cattle.
-Leadership
