ACF salutes Tinubu for signing North-West development commission bill into law
The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has commended President Bola Tinubu for signing into law a bill seeking to establish the North-West Development Commission.
According to a statement signed by Professor T. A. Muhammad-Baba,
National Publicity Secretary of ACF, the forum is confident that this law marks a new watershed in what will sure be a new lease of live for the people of the geopolitical zone.
The ACF extends warm appreciation and gratitude to the president, the Deputy President of the 10th Senate and all who contributed to the enactment of the law.
The statement said, “It is no exaggeration to say that the seven states that together comprise this region, i.e. Kebbi, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara, have been developmentally challenged.
“With an estimated total population of 49 million (or 28% of Nigeria’s total), 45.5 million (93%) remain in a state of multidimensional poverty, with an intensity ration of 42.7%, as of 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
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“Thus, the North-West remains at the very bottom of all Nigeria’s developmental indices and living conditions. The region that continues to be devastated by insecurity, banditry and associated challenges, and indeed forming the ground zero of insecurity and terrorism.
“It remains to be said that all hands must be on deck to ensure that the new law will utilise the resources allocated to the Commission to make a visible impact on the lives of the people.
“ACF calls on state and local government area councils in collaboration with the federal authorities, the law marks a new vista in the socioeconomic and political development of the Zone. All hands must be on deck, to see to it that the teeming and largely agrarian people of this area will have the dark clouds of underdevelopment removed from their environment in its totality.
“Once again, thanks to Mr President and all who ensured that this law sees the light of day. God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the statement concluded.