Gov Uba Sani of Kaduna State says the Northern region has the human resources needed to address its development challenges—if its elites work together with unity of purpose.
Sani said this on Sunday when the leadership of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), led by its Board of Trustees Chairman, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, Wazirin Dutse, paid him a courtesy visit at Sir Kashim Ibrahim House in Kaduna.
He said that although issues such as poverty, education gaps and healthcare deficits had long been identified, the time had come for northern leaders to “move from complaining to acting.”
“We have many successful Northern professionals across different fields—business, academia, medicine, entrepreneurship and others. The missing link is bringing everyone together,” he said.
The governor said the ACF was well positioned to help the region harness the expertise and resources of its leading figures for the benefit of the people.
Sani commended the forum’s plan to establish a Central Endowment Fund and urged that skills acquisition and economic empowerment be prioritised to make citizens more self-reliant.
He also expressed concern over the high level of financial exclusion across the North, noting that many people still lacked bank accounts and could not access government social intervention programmes.
He recalled that one of his first actions in office was signing an Executive Order on Financial Inclusion, through which more than 2.1 million poor residents were onboarded into the formal financial system within one year.
Sani further urged northern businessmen to invest more in the financial sector to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), pointing out that many local government areas still had no bank branches.
“Today, there are over 4,000 branches of national banks in Nigeria. But only Kaduna and Kano have about 100 branches between them. Some southern states with far smaller populations have more branches than Kano, which has 44 LGAs,” he said.
He described ACF as a neutral platform capable of addressing many of the region’s challenges, but noted that its previous lack of synergy with northern governments and political office holders had limited its impact. He, however, praised the forum’s renewed efforts to build unity.
Sani also commended the ACF for initiating engagements with other regional socio-cultural organisations such as Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo to promote trust, understanding and national cohesion.
Earlier, Dalhatu said the delegation visited to formally inform the governor of the forum’s 25th anniversary celebration scheduled to hold in Kaduna from Thursday to Saturday.
He thanked the Kaduna State Government for allocating a permanent office space to the forum, saying it was the first time the ACF would operate from a property it owned outright.
Dalhatu said Vice-President Kashim Shettima would attend the celebration as Special Guest, adding that ministers from the North had also indicated interest in attending.
“As Chief Host, Your Excellency, we seek your support in inviting your colleagues to give the celebration weight and harness opportunities for meaningful exchange of ideas,” he said.
He added that the ACF had visited key traditional institutions including the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, and had engaged leaders in the National Assembly and mosque leadership across the region.
Dalhatu also disclosed that Alhaji Aliko Dangote would serve as Guest Speaker and had been given the freedom to speak on any topic of his choice, including his personal journey.
He said the ACF had resolved to establish an endowment fund to transition from advocacy to implementing tangible, community-based projects aimed at improving social and economic conditions in the North.
