*Say North ready for restructuring
By; IBRAHIM ADAMU, Kaduna
Northern elders and leaders rose from a meeting in Kaduna on Wednesday with a call to President Bola Tinubu to urgently solve rising insecurity, destitution and high cost of living which they said had made life unbearable for the masses, especially Northerners.
This is just as the leaders expressed support for constitutional review that would result in restructuring political and economic status of Nigeria as long as the interests of Northerners are protected.
The meeting conveyed under the leadership of Chairman Board of Trustees (BOT) of Arewa Cosultative Forum(ACF), Alhaji Bashir Mohammed Dalhatu was attended by several former state governors of northern states, ministers, service chiefs, members of the National Assembly, retired senior public officers, academics among other prominent figures was called in response to increasing crisis of insecurity, skyrocketing cost of living, unemployment, destitution which the leaders said had devastated the country in general and Northern Nigeria in particular.
The position of the top northern elders and leaders was contained in a communique read to newsmen at the end of the meeting by National Publicity Secretary of ACF Professor Tukur Muhammad Baba.
The meeting while enjoining northeners to be united in confronting challenges of insecurity ravaging the region such as Boko Haram and banditry in north east and north west subregions, advocated community-driven efforts as a model of defense such as the civilian JTF and called on other communities to utilize such arrangement in tackling insecurity.
The communique said effort of the federal government in response to insecurity and other form of violent vices in the country and north in particular was not enough.
While calling on constituted authorities at all levels of governance, the leaders blamed corruption and bad governance as the root cause of most social and economic crisis bedevilling Nigeria, including distortion of moral values, nepotism and injustice.
“Under the current circumstances, the meeting resolved to make the following recommendations.
“Whatever it takes, the security crisis in northern Nigeria must end quickly because our collective survival depends on it.
“The current approaches to fighting the insurgents and bandits are not yielding positive results; other methods, even unconventional ones need to considered and tried.
“Nigeria is indeed facing a moral crisis for failing to protect its citizens who cannot bear arms but are left at the mercy of well armed, cruel and blood thirsty barbarians and renegades who continue to have access to deadly arms; this is a matter that requires very urgent thought and review.
“Cost of living crisis is driven by severe shortage of food and especially the continuously rising prices of fuel energy and electricity.
“These problems have compounded the challenges of insecurity and violent crimes; Government must do all within its powers to mitigate the impacts of these problems.
“After reviewing current agitations and calls for for a review of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution as well as restructuring of administrative structure of Nigeria, the meeting resolved to dispel any impression that the North was shy, afraid or averse to any such proposals.
“The meeting further resolved to put all and sundry on notice that Northern Nigeria is willing to consider all proposals on constructional review that may be put on the table now or in the future, when the occasion arises, the North will surely use whatever is available to it to pursue its legitimate interests,” the communique added.
