- It is an honour to return to the City of Kaduna and to participate in the Arewa Joint Committee Interactive Session, and rub minds on some fundamental issues germane to the future of Nigeria.
- I thank the leadership and stakeholders of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation for their gracious invitation.
- I wish to preface my remarks by setting out our mission and vision. We are all Nigerians. I am a Nigerian running for the Nigerian Presidency to serve every Nigerian. I continue to insist on a show of respect for every candidate, ethnicity, religion and person.
- The mission and vision of the incoming Obi-Datti Administration is to give full expression to our democracy by moving our country from consumption to production; we shall achieve this by giving primacy to implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Status Quo
- Our dear country today has become a shadow of itself. Indeed, there is evidence that Nigeria exhibits two known indices of a failed state; parlous economy and loss of territory and emergence of ungoverned spaces.
- The purpose of politics and governance is to generate economic and social progress for the citizens in larger freedom. But the status quo is the reverse. This is more so here in the North, where poverty, unemployment and insecurity are the new normal.
- The North has the highest number of out-of-school children in the world. It has highest number of school kidnappings in the world. The North also has the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria. The vast agricultural lands of the north -the so-called food basket of the nation stand desolate and abandoned. This situation is painful and needs to be fixed.
Returning to Dreams of Great Nation