Way forward: Northern part of Nigeria sets up 7 committees

The Coalition of Concerned Northerners, which met in Abuja last week to x-ray the multiple problems facing the geopolitical region with the objective of providing a pathway out of the difficulties, has set up seven standing committees to look into the various challenges facing the North.

The group, convened by Dr Junaidu Mohammed, at its meeting had several northern leaders like Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, Malam Lamido Sule of Jigawa State, and many intellectuals in attendance.

A participant at the conference and veteran journalist, Timaus Mathias, told our reporter last night that the committees set up included those on religious harmony, economic situation (which will look into the issue of revenue allocation), security (which will probe the Boko Haram crisis), poverty and agriculture. The other two committees are charged with the task of looking into the problems of unemployment and the collapsing education system in the region.

The meeting, it was gathered, had the objective of attacking the long-term problems facing the North, with the aim of providing a kind of roadmap which northern governors can successfully apply. The short-term issue which the group intended to tackle is a political problem related to the ongoing role that the Joint Task Force (JTF) is playing in northern states in the name of containing Boko Haram.

In its communiqué, signed by Dr Junaidu Mohammed and circulated at the weekend, the group said, “In the course of the meeting the Northern Group reflected on the deteriorating security situation in the region, particularly with regards to the growth and spread of attacks and impunity by the Boko Haram insurgents and other ethnic and religious militias in the North. In addition, the meeting dwelled on the threats posed by the resurgent activities of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), other Niger Delta militant groups, Movement for the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). In addition, the meeting dwelled on the threats and recent calls by groups for a Sovereign National Conference.

“The meeting reflected on the elements that bond the Northerners and their cultures together, irrespective of ethnicity and religion over many years at their association, and expressed their sadness that the basis of unity of the region has of recent come under a serious assault. The meeting noted the positive fallouts of the recent nationwide strike,, in the course of which the ordinary people of the North, and of the rest of the country manifested a refreshing desire to support and protect one another against the clear evidence of orchestrated designs to polarize and keep the people apart.

“The meeting also received the shocking details of the several excesses of the JTF (Joint Task Force) which amounted to no less than gross human rights abuses. The meeting expressed the view that the threat posed by Boko Haram insurgency could best be attended to without the attendant attacks on individual rights and on businesses.

“The meeting resolved to support the calls for the restructuring of the Nigerian Federation in the hope that the lopsidedness in the structure of the nation’s politics and economy will be a key agenda issue.

“It then called on the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF) to liaise with other Stakeholders in the North, such as the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Northern Union (NU), Jama’atul Nasirl Islam (JNI), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Women, Youth and Student Bodies and other groups to join hands together to tackle the identified threats confronting the region.”