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• Halliru Akilu, ACF chieftain, laments frightening food insecurity in region
From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
A former military intelligence officer and Chairman, Board of Trustees (BoT), Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Kano State, Brigadier-General Halliru Akilu (retd), has lamented poverty and food insecurity in the North.
He spoke on the benefits of the interactive session by President, African Development Bank (ADB), Dr Akinwumi Adesina, for governors of the North West.
Participants included Governor Dikko Radda, Katsina State with deputy governors of Jigawa, Kebbi, Zamfara, Kano, Sokoto and Kaduna states. They were briefed on the special agro-industrial processing zones of ADB. The session was aimed to advance food self-sufficiency, create jobs and boost economic growth through the processing of raw agricultural commodities in areas with high potential.
Akilu lauded the engagement as positive: “It was a timely initiative that would lift communities in the region out of their present poverty and impoverishment. Absence of elite consensus was one of the key impediments to social, economic and political development of the region.
“The North must tap into the ADB’s proposals to eliminate its weak, limited value addition and poor integration in the domestic, regional and international markets.
The opportunities (offered by the bank) would enable the North West to focus on food production, nutrition, security and provide innovative ways for the zone to unleash its agricultural potentialities.
“North West is mainly Nigeria’s food basket, with an estimated population of over 60 million, about 30 per cent of the country’s population. The zone is also home to 10 million of Nigeria’s 22 million herds of cattle.”
