A former executive secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and member of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), Prof Usman Yusuf, has said the north is richer than the south in Nigeria but bad governance and corruption have been the bane of the region.
Speaking as a guest on Sunday’s edition of Politics Today on Channels Television, Yusuf posited that the north has enough resources to cater for the needs of Nigerians and also West Africa.
He stressed that 80 per cent of the problems bedevilling the country rest squarely with the governors.
“We in the north are richer than the south in many ways, if we concentrate on three things, agriculture, solid minerals and solar, we will be done,” Yusuf said.
“All the water, all the electric power stations are in the north. Mambila, the Northeast is complaining there is no power, if we had developed Mambila we wouldn’t be in this mess.
“We have the land for agriculture we can feed not only Nigeria but the whole of West Africa. Secure our people and let them go back to the farms and do not abandon agriculture and run after this oil that is fluctuating all over the place.
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“Solid minerals, we have it all, why are there fighting in Zamfara and all these north-western states, it’s because of gold. In the last government, the national security adviser would come and say mining has been banned, no-fly zone but no follow-up.
“Also, we have the sun, we can power not only the region but the whole country but we look at the president more than we look at the governors and 80 per cent of our problems are the governors.”
Yusuf said there had been leaders in Nigeria that most of the governors, and ministers benefited from their good governance.
“They trained us, they did not accumulate but now everybody else not only wants to accumulate but leave the state treasury empty and not only that indebted. The primary thing is corruption and bad governance, it is everywhere but more pronounced here because of the insecurity, it’s going to bite us.”
