By Abdul Haruna.
As northerners in Nigeria, it’s time to wake up from our slumber and take collective action to restore peace, prosperity and tranquility in our beloved region and the nation at large. The challenges facing northern Nigeria are multifaceted and require urgent attention.
I am writing this ‘Call for Action’ solutions as a “Wake Up Call” to the northern leaders to address the challenges facing northern Nigeria, while emphasizing the importance of collective action, political will power and good governance. Remember, a brighter future for northern Nigeria is possible if our northern local and states governments, traditional elders, technocrat, industrialist, etc, work together towards peace, stability, and sustainable development.
To mitigate the numerous challenges and future plans, I am suggesting the following as the way out:
1. Modern Agriculture: Adopt climate-smart agriculture practices, leverage technology for precision farming, storage, processing foods items and invest in irrigation systems across the region to boost food security.
2. Renewable Energy: Harness solar, wind, and hydro power to provide clean and reliable energy for homes, businesses, and industries.
3. Transportation Infrastructure: Develop modern rural areas road networks and inter state rail networks to facilitate easy movement of people and goods, and to promote economic growths in the region.
4. Food Security: Implement sustainable agricultural practices, support smallholder farmers, and establish food storage / preserving facilities across the region to minimize waste of freshrable food items to ensure availability and accessibility.
5. Energy Security: Invest in renewable energy sources, promote energy efficiency, and develop energy storage solutions. Eg, solar, water, wind and LNG.
6. Water Security: Develop sustainable water management systems, promote water conservation, and ensure equitable access to clean water to the general public as well as industries by building more Dams in the region.
7. An All Inclusive Educational System: Provide access to quality education that promotes critical thinking, innovation, and social cohesion, tolerance, and inclusivity.
8. Economic Empowerment: Foster entrepreneurship, support small and medium-sized enterprises, convert the streets beggers to streets cleaners and promote economic opportunities for all through grants and technology support to address poverty and unemployment.
9. Good Governance: Ensure transparent, accountable, fight against corruption and participatory governance that prioritizes the needs of citizens with strength of political will power.
10. Infrastructure Development: Invest in modern infrastructure, including railway, road and water transportation systems, energy grids and technology innovations hubs.
11. Address Insecurity: Strengthen security agencies, promote community policing, regional civilian JTF and address the root causes of insurgency, kidnappers, banditry, phone snatching and yan daba.
12. Foster Inclusivity: Encourage religious tolerance through interfaith dialogue, cultural exchange, involving the traditional rulers of the region and social cohesion across the diverse tribes of the region and communication networks.
13. Good Governance: Hold leaders accountable, ensure transparency, and promote participatory e-governance. The general public, media and other economic and financial crimes agencies are the watch dogs, the civil society organizations and activists are the pressure groups to “follow the money” to checkmate the governments at all levels.
14. Environmental Sustainability: Stop tree cutting in the region and encourage trees planting especially economies trees (mango) to stop desertification, promote renewable energy, and ensure sustainable resource management such as the illegal mining across the region.
15. Establish Rehab Centers : Establish and support drugs rehabilitation centers in the region to provide a comprehensive approach to the drugs addiction and rehabilitation of the teeming youths with drugs problems.
16. Take Up Demographic Survey: Conduct a general survey to determine the statistical population number of out of school children, school dropouts, almajirai, persons with disabilities and also the unemployed youth for a robust sustainable developmental strategies.
17. Establish Forest Rangers : Employ, train, equip, support and fully funded full-time Forests Rangers to oversee the vast northern states region forests in order to checkmate the illegal activities of mining, cutting down trees, cattle-wrestling and other insecurity.
18. Establish And Promote Mining : Ensure proper legitimate regional mining management services by incorporating Northern Nigeria Mining Industry (NNMI) owned by all the local and states in the region.
19. General Public Enlightenment : Enlighten and inform the teeming population of the region of the importance of unity, peace, progress and prosperity to move the region out of numerous challenges and future plans for the development of Arewa.
Approaches to practical, sustainable and achievable Funding Infrastructure Developments in the Northern region:
1. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs): Collaborate with private sector investors to finance and deliver infrastructure projects in the region eg, rail lines, refinery, strategic fuel tanks reservors, water transportation, roads etc.
2. State and Local Government Funding: Allocate budget resources and prioritize infrastructure development. ie all local and state governments in the region to contribute certain percentage of their monthly allocations to a didecated account for the region developmental plan.
3. Federal Government Support: Seek funding and technical assistance from federal agencies and programs. Eg, the northern development commissions. (east, west and central).
4. International Development Assistance: Explore funding opportunities from global development organizations and donors.
5. Private Sector Investment: Encourage private companies to invest in building roads and put toll gates to get back their investment as a built operate and transfer settings.
6. Community-Based Initiatives: Mobilize local communities to contribute to infrastructure development like schools, hospitals, drainages, merkets, motor packs and waste clearance through labor, materials, or funding.
7. Green Bond: Issue specialized bonds to finance environmentally friendly infrastructure projects to create more jobs for the unemployed youth across the region..
8. Establish Development Banks: Establish public / private specialized banks to provide financing for trade, housing estates, manufacturing infrastructure, smart-agricultural, transportation projects other enterprises.
Conclusion.
By exploring these funding approaches, we can secure the necessary resources to develop modern infrastructure and restore the glory of northern Nigeria.
Let’s us together pray that the ALMIGHTY LORD brings us the entire northerners to unite and work together to restore the glory of northern Nigeria and stop receiving insults from certain quarters mocking the north as parasites to PARADISE. The time for action is now!
Thank you and God bless.
Engr Abdul Haruna, moi, coh.
Concerned Citizen from Kano State.
Email : ahmaikano@gmail.com
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