KEY POINTS
- Northern youths are lamenting worsening economic conditions, and insecurity in the region.
- Northern group coalition urges community based solutions to confront crises.
- They start programs to fight insecurity, education deficits, and poverty wherever Katsina State is.
The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) is worried with the socio economic realities facing Nigeria, saying the country is no longer functioning effectively.
CNG President Jamilu Charanchi said this while speaking at a one-day community engagement program in Katsina on rising inflation, naira devaluation, removal of petrol subsidy and insecurity which have worsened living conditions in the region.
Nigeria is not just having issues, Nigeria is not working. Many people are not even able to afford one square meal, and they are suffering. *Charanchi said insecurity still prevailed in the North.
Regional challenges and leadership failures
Charanchi decried the leadership of the region and bemoaned how formal and informal institutions have failed to address essential challenges ranging from unemployment, illiteracy and poverty. The challenges persist and he constantly called for community involvement to deal with them and nudged northern Nigerians to do the right thing in developing the region.
On one hand, northern Nigeria holds rich human and natural resources, but on the other hand, it battles underdevelopment, drug abuse, youth restiveness, and the collapse of social value. But banditry and insecurity continue to rise, and “all stakeholders owe stronger commitments,” he added.
In its statement, the coalition referred to the recent decisions on the economy, including the scrapping of fuel subsidies and higher electricity tariffs which have impoverished even more people.
Charanchi said, ‘Millions have lost their livelihoods, causing widespread poverty and violent protests, during which many died and destroyed property.”
There is one intervention of Katsina state government
Katsina State’s Commissioner for Information Bala Zango, representing Governor Dikko Radda, told the engagement of the administration’s drive in addressing socio-economic issues in the localities.
According to him, a Community Watch Corps would be created to tackle insecurity, in addition to scholarships for indigent students.
The example set by Katsina State in creating a Ministry for Internal Security and engaging no fewer than 1,500 Community Watch Corps to combat insecurity, has reduced insecurity by 70 percent.
It also invested over N30 billion in agriculture and recruited 7,000 teachers that will bring about the improvement in education,” Zango said.
According to The Punch, The Coalition of Northern Groups concluded its recommendations by asking members of the society to take ownership of their development and find solutions to their problems, as governments appear to be failing in reigniting development in the region.
