In Nigeria Governor of Kaduna State Uba Sani has warned that northern Nigeria was on the brink of collapse if political leaders did come together to find solutions to the region’s many problems.
In 2022 the National Bureau of Statistics had found that 86 million people in the north were “multidimensionally poor” – about 65% of total for Nigeria as a whole.
The north was not managing any better in the field of education. According to UNICEF, around 12.8 million children in the region are “out-of-school” – about 70% of the national total.
Sani also noted that there were significant food shortages because insecurity meant that many farmers were unable to access their farms.
Child and maternal mortality were increasing, infrastructure had decayed.
In summary, Sani said, “We are confronted with difficult developmental and security questions. Criminal elements have been laying siege to communities in the North and reversing our progress on multiple fronts. Our development deficits are scary and require urgent attention.”