The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has said that Northern Nigeria will continue to ‘rule’ Nigeria because they have the numbers and majority of the vote.
This position was stated by the Director of Publicity and Advocacy of the NEF, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, while speaking at the Maitama Sule Lecture Series organized by the students’ wing of the Coalition of Northern Groups, held at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, on Saturday, September 18.
“We will lead Nigeria the way we have led Nigeria before whether we are President or Vice President, we will lead Nigeria. We have the majority of the votes and democracy says vote whom you want. Why should we accept a second class position when we know we can buy a form and contest for first class and we will win?
“Why does anybody need to threaten us and intimidate us? We will get that power but be humble because power comes from God. We inherited the leadership and being honest is not being stupid.
“The North has pride; we are humble enough to know that we are going to run Nigeria with other people but we are not going to play second fiddle to anybody. We may not have the most robust economy, there are people who are trying to strangulate us even more than we are being strangled,” the NEF noted.
His statements are coming amidst strong debates about the Nation’s rotational leadership arrangement between the North and South.
Meanwhile, Kingsley Moghalu, former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has stated that foreign direct investment (FDI) can help lift a country out of poverty if it is targeted at the real economy.
Moghalu made this call on Saturday, September 19, during a US-Nigeria investment summit in New York.
According to the former CBN official, the most important requirements for FDI to successfully contribute to real development in a country like Nigeria are the presence of a well-educated workforce and infrastructure.
Moghalu noted that Nigeria needs to adopt a strategy and incorporate political risk guarantees into major FDI agreements.
“We all know that Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, and with a population of 200 million people; one with huge potential for growth. It is therefore a country of significant potential for foreign direct investment and foreign investors.
“But, for several reasons including a weak macroeconomic environment, policy inconsistency and the absence of a well-defined strategy for FDI as a component of economic growth strategy, FDI into Nigeria has declined markedly in the past several years,” Moghalu said.
