Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, on Monday expressed concern over the high rate of poverty, out-of-school children and general insecurity in the North, declaring that the region faces an existential threat. The development, the governor added, was quite disturbing and must worry all those who still care for the North and Nigeria in general. Sani highlighted the challenges facing the North, including poverty, insecurity, and poor education, citing statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics and UNICEF.
He spoke on Monday while welcoming a delegation from the Arewa Consultative Forum, led by its Chairman, Mamman Mike Osuman, to Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House in Kaduna. Sani noted that the National Bureau of Statistics’ “survey revealed that 63% of persons living within Nigeria (that is about 133 million people) are multi dimensionally poor. 65% of the poor (that is 86 million people) live in the North, while 35% (nearly 47 million) live in the South.
“The North is not faring any better in the area of education. The United Nations Children’s Fund puts the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria at 18.3 million.
Of this outrageous number of out-of-school children, about 70% are in the North of Nigeria. “This is quite disturbing and must worry all of us who still care for the North and Nigeria in general. Insecurity in the North has retarded developments in the critical sectors, a lot of farmers cannot access their farms.
“Food insecurity now confronts u.
