Challenges before new Northern Governors’ Forum

Malam Ibrahim Shekarau

Dipo Laleye writes on the challenges before the Northern Governors’ Forum under the leadership of Niger State governor, Dr. Muazu Aliyu.

Recently, governors in the Northern part of the country met at the Arewa House, Kaduna, Kaduna State, where they took far reaching decisions that will not only touch on the lives of the people in the region but propel to greatness the entire region.

It was not the first time governors of the North would meet. The Northern Governors Forum has been in existence right from the era of military rule. The aim of the meeting is to bring about unity among the leaders of the North and chart a common cause and united voice for the region.

At a stage in Nigeria’s political history when the Northern Governors Forum became very powerful and appeared to be dictating the pace in the decision making process of the country, governors in the South formed a rival forum, the Southern Governors Forum.

However, the Southern Governors Forum did not live beyond the tenure of its founders just as the influence of the Northern Governors Forum waned considerably as a result of claims by governors from a section of region that they were being marginalised based on their religion. As a result, a few states in the North stopped attending the forum’s meetings and even attempted to form a rival organization, a dream which did not materialise.

Lack of unity among the leaders in the region turned the Northern Governors Forum to a political jamboree where governors who cared just attended and others sent their deputies to represent them. The situation reached a point that issues concerning the development of the region and its people were abandoned.

Such is the situation that the entire businesses jointly owned by the North especially the Northern Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), the umbrella business body for the North, became a shadow of itself. Also, factories like the Arewa Textiles and others stopped operations, throwing millions of able-bodied youths in the North into the unemployment market.

The forum seemed unconcerned as its “mouth piece”, the New Nigerian Newspapers, lost its “voice and sting” and Radio Nigeria, though a baby of the Federal Government but which protected the North, lost its protective power. However, the current democratic dispensation which brought on board a new set of political leaders in the region saw the emergence of a new Northern Governors Forum.

Niger State governor, Dr. Muazu Aliyu, became the chairman of the body last year and has since turned around the fortunes of the organisation. Governor Aliyu introduced a new focus for the body and by so doing brought back those states which had in the past felt marginalised. It is on record that since Aliyu assumed the headship of the body, over 90 per cent of the governors have been attending its meeting.

Instead of just gathering to discuss politics and issues that interest them, members of the Northern Governors Forum have brought a new dimension to the activities of the forum.

Early in the year, the forum organised a Health Summit where the problems bordering on delivering good health care facilities for people in the region were exhaustively discussed.

The Summit also looked at the high maternal and child morbidity rates in the North and the problems of HIV/Aids which is fast attaining an alarming rate.

One of the decisions reached at this forum is that an organised assault should be launched on all the issues discovered to have hindered health care delivery in the region. Dr. Yahaya Vatsa, Niger State Commissioner for Health, who coordinated the summit believes that the results of the summit would be seen in the way the health system in the region would be transformed.

Recently, the forum organised an Education Summit where heads in the region brainstormed on how to stem the tide of poor enrolment of the girl child in schools and the inability of states to fill their quota in Federal Government-owned universities. The Almajiri system which has turned out to be one of the problems facing the region was also discussed.

Governor Aliyu, who is also the governor of Niger State, provided food for thought for the governors and professionals at the summit. He wanted the conference to examine the rationale behind the establishment of state universities by governors in the region whereas virtually all states in the North have not been able to fill their quota in existing tertiary institutions. Participants at the summit examined the huge number of unemployed graduates in the North and agreed to encourage parents to send their wards to school, emphasizing that employment must be provided for all graduates.

The decisions reached at the conference have received royal blessings from the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar. The Sultan commended the Northern Governors Forum for convening the summit, describing it as “a step forward in bringing education in the north to meet the challenges of the moment”. Alhaji Abubakar also asked people of the North to throw their weight behind the governors in their determination to revamp education.

Perhaps, the greatest innovation the forum has spearheaded is the democratisation of the body. Until now, the chairmanship of the forum was by appointment. However, that undemocratic policy has now been thrown into the dust bin of history; in its place, a more democratic arrangement has been put in place. Under this new initiative, a two-year renewable mandate has been introduced for the leader of the forum.

The country being in a democracy, the new arrangement cannot but be applauded. There is no doubt that anyone that can scale this election hurdle will have been given additional responsibility and thrown up for greater political challenge. The election of Governor Aliyu as chairman of the forum notwithstanding the fact that he has headed this important gathering for two quarters now is in recognition of dynamic leadership style.

It is also in appreciation of what Governor Aliyu has been doing in his home state where he has changed the face of things in his first year in office. Elders and leaders of the North have already recognised the leadership of Aliyu at least going by recent statement by the Dan Masami Kano and former Nigeria’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule. Alhaji Sule described Aliyu as the “new Sardauna of our time” and charged the governor to pursue his leadership of the North with vigour and spirit of Allah, pledging the support of the elders.

With the new spirit among the governors in the North, their determination to succeed and the quality of leaders of the Northern Governors Forum, it may not take long for the sun to shine on the region again.