Femi Adi/ Kaduna
The Sultan of Sokoto , Muhammadu Sa’ad Abubakar on Thursday in Kaduna said northern leaders must stop hiding under shadow of of late Premier of Northern region, Sir Ahmadu Bello , Sardauna of Sokoto and move to work as visionary leaders for development of north and its people.
According to the Sultan ,the late Sardauna, who was premier of the old northern region for about 12 years, carved a niche for himself as a committed, detribalised , selfless and visionary leader , whose interest was mainly for progress and development of north.
The Sultan stated this in a speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the demise of Sir Ahmadu Bello.
The speech was organized by the Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation.
Sultan Abubakar said it was high time the present of crop of leaders put hands on deck to reverse the socio-economic backwardness facing the north.
While emphasizing that northern leaders needed to be focused and committed to tackling the problems such as illiteracy, poverty and unemployment , he noted , the time to work is now.
“50 years after Sadauna’s death, let’s work with his blue prints and the ethics he left for us, let us avoid all forms of religious bigotry and rivalry.” he noted.
The Sultan who also is the President, Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs of Nigeria as well as Chairman Northern Council of Chiefs tasked northern governors and other leaders to especially find solution to the lingering unemployment problem in the region.
“Unemployed youth are like time bomb waiting to explode, whoever has nothing to do will do anything available, therefore find a way to engage our jobless youths and get our children off the streets and make them useful to the society.”
As a means of tackling part of the unemployment problem , the Sultan urged the Northern Governors to see to the resuscitation of the Ajaokuta steel company and other comatose industries in the region.
He also advised the northern governors to find a way of diversifying the economy of the north from being oil dependent to agriculture based.
“If we face these issues of Ajaokuta revival, employment creation and diversification from oil to agriculture squarely, in the next four to five years, the north will be better for it”, he said.