The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has announced the establishment of the Northern Nigeria Economic Development Council (NNEDC), a new coordinating body aimed at driving industrialization, attracting investment, and harmonizing development policies across the northern region.
The announcement followed the successful conclusion of the Northern Nigeria Investment and Industrialization Summit (NNIIS) in Abuja, where participants pledged over $10 billion in new investments spanning mining, agriculture, and power.
In a communiqué signed by the Chairman of the NEF Board of Trustees, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, the Forum said the NNEDC would serve as the institutional framework for implementing the Northern Nigeria Economic Development Masterplan, anchored on three pillars: security, policy coherence, and private capital mobilization.
The two-day summit, themed “Unlocking Strategic Opportunities in Mining, Agriculture, and Power (MAP 2025),” brought together Federal Government officials, northern governors, the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC), private sector leaders, development partners, financiers, academics, and civil society groups.
“The summit also featured exhibitions of investment opportunities by the 19 Northern States’ Investment Promotion Agencies, corporate sponsors, and Deal Room/Matchmaking (B2B, B2G) sessions. Major investments across mining, agriculture, and power worth over $10 billion were pledged over the next five years,” the communiqué stated.
Delegations from Turkey, India, Canada, Bangladesh, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia attended the event, expressing interest in investing billions of dollars in Northern Nigeria’s growth sectors.
Declaring the summit open, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, represented by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to revitalizing Northern Nigeria’s economy through strategic partnerships and institutional capital mobilization.
The NEF commended the President for his support and pledged to ensure accountability and transparency in implementing the outcomes of the summit.
Governors from the North West, North East, and North Central regions also signed the Northern Nigeria Economic Development Charter, committing their states to a unified regional economic vision.
The newly created NNEDC will operate under the joint oversight of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and the Northern Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NNGF), coordinating the rollout of the Northern Nigeria Economic Development Masterplan (NNEDM).
A Joint Implementation and Monitoring Taskforce (JIMT) will oversee transitional activities and publish an operational roadmap within 60 days. The NNEDC will also release quarterly scorecards to track measurable outcomes such as job creation, energy expansion, and investment inflows.
Director-General of NEF, Prof. D.D. Sheni, described the initiative as “a decisive pivot from rhetoric to execution” in Northern Nigeria’s development trajectory.
“With security as the bedrock, policy coherence as the framework, and private capital as the engine, Northern Nigeria can transform its endowments into sustainable growth,” he said.
The Forum reaffirmed its commitment to transparency, accountability, and inclusive prosperity as it leads the region into a new era of coordinated economic transformation.
