The Chairman of the Northern Governor’s Forum and Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, has condemned the rising spate of poverty in the north, stating that the region had allowed itself be turned to a laughing stock everywhere.
He said this in Kaduna on Friday at the first meeting of the forum since the governors were sworn-in on May 29.
According to Shettima, the region had become a thriving nest for war, terrorism, deep seated social divisions, senseless violence, mind-boggling intolerance, injustice, destitution, joblessness and all manner of social vices, the height of which was the “madness called Boko Haram.”
The Kaduna meeting had 12 governors in attendance with the other 7 represented by their deputies.
Furthermore, he stated that: “Things have become so bad, so much that we can say without contradiction that poverty now glaringly wears a bold Northern Face.
“We have turned our region into a laughing stock, derided by friends and foes alike, and, without justification, as having dragged the rest of the country down with us.
“No amount of lamentation will, of course, solve our problems. We need to act, and fast too. This generation of northern leaders, led by us the governors, have both moral and constitutional responsibility as well as a historic opportunity to reverse the negative fortunes of our people.”
Proffering solutions to the problems, Shettima called on the governors to join hands to decisively fight poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, terrorism and other forms of violent crimes in the north, while upholding the lofty values of understanding, tolerance, mutual respect, empathy, justice and mutual coexistence in the minds of the people and region.
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