By; TOM GARBA, Yola
The successful event of Arewa New Agenda (ANA) in 2023 when it organized a conference in Abuja on renewed hope as the road map of ending poverty, has received wide commendation in and outside the shores of Nigeria.
Building on last year’s breakthrough, ANA has yet organized another dialogue session with an emphasis on tackling poverty in Northern Nigeria by providing another avenue for convergence to deepen the discussion around strategies to deal with the canker worm called poverty.
The convener, Sen Ahmad Abubakar MoAllahyidi signed a concept note on a follow-on discussion which is a sustainable strategic solution seeking dialogue of moving households from vulnerability to prosperity.
ANA convener revealed that there is a predicated understanding that households in rural families (141 million out of 200 million) suffer from food insecurity due to low incomes, limited knowledge about proper household asset management, and inadequate nutrition practices.
According to him, the common man has not been getting the real support effective enough to provide him the skills needed to improve livelihood and nutritional intake that will enable him to take that critical step out of poverty.
This year’s dialogue is scheduled to hold on February 10, 2024, by 9:30am and the International Conference Center (ICC) Abuja, where about 100 people are expected to be in attendance as participants.
He said the goal of the follow-on dialogue session will be an all-day event; with a morning and afternoon session, devoted to provoking thoughts around the key elements that must be addressed and critical steps that must be taken to engender sustainable and achievable initiatives that set the ground for moving Northern Nigeria from poverty to prosperity.
The meeting objectives according to him, includes but is not limited to; formulating an initiative that enterprises poor households to ending poverty through productivity inclusion in the solid minerals value chain, set in motion initiatives that seeks to Increase household agricultural production and incomes support to households to build capacity for economic engagement inside and outside their homes.
It also aims to expose the ANA home-grown poverty reduction avenues, strategies and innovative solutions for moving poor households from dependency on humanitarian assistance to engage in other economic activities in states ravaged by insurgency and banditry.
To take a closer look at the question of Northern political leadership in the current dispensation, ANA has posited in its charter of operations that, “Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa with its 36 States and a Federal Capital Territory. Out of this, Northern Nigeria comprises of 19 states and has a population of about 160 million people; this is one of our prides as Northerners.
“Nigeria has a gross domestic product of USD 3, 203.3 per capital and ranked the sixth major oil producing nation in the world. The sad commentary is that 86.9 million Nigerians out of an estimated 200 million are living in extreme poverty; this represents nearly 50% of the populace; of these figures, 85% are in Northern Nigeria and this is our worry.
“Past efforts at enhancing the confidence of the people to take that critical step out of poverty is faced with some very worrying socio-economic indices; including high maternal mortality, child mortality, poverty and underdevelopment. These indices are worst in the core states of Northern Nigeria.
“Therefore, poverty in Nigeria is mostly rural. Macroeconomic shocks tend to affect rural areas much more than cities. Poverty, for example, is expected to decline by more than 40% in cities, and to increase by over 7% in rural areas.
“This is the basis of the rural-urban migration drift in Northern Nigeria. This follow-on dialogue seeks to unveil a steady and intensive series of sustainable realistic strategies woven into interventions that can be implemented so that households can recover, build, rebound and ultimately grow their way out of poverty.
“This will be supplemented by the consistent ability and capacity to design and implement interventions across different social and economic sectors to support households to escape the poverty trap.” He said
He further said experts will lead a paper on appraising the provisions for poverty reduction in the 2024 national budget, a Proposed Presidential Initiative on: Nigeria Integrated Capital Investment Platform (NICIP): Gate way to National wealth creation and ending poverty through productivity inclusion and Initiatives/solutions for a sustained poverty reduction in Northern Nigeria
Professor Medaner Osuji; Mr. John Pakka (President/CEO, African Mineral Rating & Exchange Ltd.) And Sen Ahmad Abubakar MoAllahyidi; Convener Arewa New Agenda ANA will present papers on the proposed topics respectively.
“This will follow an opening ceremony where select dignitaries will make speeches to set the program rolling as contained in the agenda.
“The afternoon session will be the discussions around the issues raised in the various presentations and finally a statement will be issued showing next steps pending the compilation of a comprehensive report.
“The session will also take a closer look at the question of Northern political leadership in the current dispensation with a view to adopting a consensus leader.” Abubakar said
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