Aliko Dangote who spoke at the 4th edition of the Kaduna Investment Summit (KadInvest 4.0) in Kaduna on Wednesday, blasted state Governors who according to him are responsible for the high poverty rate in Northern Nigeria.Aliko Dangote who is Africa’s richest man, blasted Northern Nigeria state governors who he accused doing little to end the high poverty rate in the region. He noted that 60 per cent of northerners lived in extreme poverty, saying it was unacceptable for a people with vast arable land for agriculture to live in poverty.
According
to him: “Nigeria is ranked at 157th out of 189 countries on the human
development index. While the overall socio-economic condition in the
country is a cause for concern, the regional disparities are in fact
very alarming. In the North Western and North Eastern parts of Nigeria,
more than 60 per cent of the population lives in extreme poverty.
“It
is instructive to know that the 19 Northern states which accounts for
over 54 per cent of Nigeria’s population and 70 per cent of its
landmass, collectively generate, only 21 per cent of the total
subnational IGR in the year 2017. Northern Nigeria will continue to fall
behind if the respective states governments do not move to close the
development gap.
“And that is why we are always saying the
biggest challenge that we have and what we have been praying for is to
have 10 governors like Mallam Nasir El-Rufai to move the northern
Nigeria forward. Closing the gap requires multi years investment and
government will not be able to raise the require capital funding, only
the private sector can raise the capital to fund the level of investment
that this country needs.”
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