Former governor of Kaduna State, Dr. Muktar Ramalan Yero has urged the North to seek ways of reducing the spate of illiteracy and poverty in the region instead of fighting to retain power beyond 2023.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain noted that the North has the highest number of street beggars and school dropouts, adding that holding on to political power has not helped the economy of the region.
Yero said that the North has a lot of challenges, which one of it is economic challenge.
“I realized that if the North really wants to continue to eradicate the poverty that is eating up the people of the region, then we must shift our attention and our thinking to how the North can became economically viable,” he said in an interview with the Sun.
The former Governor said had it been that the political power has been a means to improve the economy of the region, then the North can continue to pursue to retain power in 2023 and even beyond, “but looking at the prevailing situation with north holding power, we can ask ourselves, is the North empowered economically?”
He noted that other regions that have had little or no chance to lead the country, but have more interest in economic power are getting what they want.
“You see, looking at a typical northerner, he is a fair person when it comes to dealing with other people outside his own area. Once he gets power, he tries to be fair to everybody. In trying to be fair, he would not be too selfish to concentrate on his region,” the PDP chieftain added.
“At the moment, we need to go back to the drawing board and look at the economic challenges before talking of retaining power.”
The said the region must first see whether its economy is viable, adding that in the near future, “even the political power we may not be able to get it because we are not economically empowered.”
According to him, “In the North, we have the highest population; the largest land mass and the highest number of army of illiterates, including school dropouts, as well as highest number of street beggars.”
