Governors from Nigeria’s Northwest region have held a crucial meeting with senior officials from the United Nations and the African Development Bank in Abuja, focusing on advancing development initiatives aimed at improving social services and economic growth in the area.
Dikko Umaru Radda, the Chairman of the Northwest Governors’ Forum and Governor of Katsina State, spoke after the meeting, outlining that the discussions revolved around impactful interventions in social protection, education, food security, and climate adaptation. Other governors in attendance included Uba Sani of Kaduna, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara, Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto, and Umar Namadi of Jigawa.
During the forum, the governors were briefed by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and UN Resident Coordinator Malick Fall, who provided updates on various programs and discussed ways to enhance regional collaboration.
Governor Radda also revealed that discussions with the AfDB centered on the Nigeria Agricultural Growth Scheme (NAG 2.0), which aims to foster agricultural development and improve value chains in the Northwestern states. He emphasized that the program is poised for implementation, promising significant agricultural growth and value chain improvements for the region.
The governors further discussed the second phase of the Special Agro-Processing Zones initiative, which will now be expanded to include all five Northwest states, following its initial focus on only Kaduna and Kano states. Renewable energy solutions, particularly solar and Compressed Natural Gas projects, were also part of the talks, facilitated through the Infrastructure Resilience Support program.
In addition, the forum expressed interest in utilizing resources from the Nigeria Education Loan Fund to enhance education across the region. Each state governor has appointed a designated focal person to coordinate development partner programs, focusing on key issues such as poverty alleviation, youth employment, and addressing the out-of-school children crisis.
Governor Radda urged the governors’ collective commitment to addressing critical challenges in economic development, agriculture, education, and social issues, highlighting their unified approach to tackling poverty and promoting youth employment.
“We are on the eve of implementing this programme, which will drive agricultural development and enhance value chains in the region.
” We have unanimously agreed to work together on economic development, agriculture, tackling out-of-school children, poverty alleviation, and youth employment,” he said.
