By Vincent Egunyanga, Abuja
Former head of state Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd) and the Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris Malagi yesterday blamed poverty, unemployment, and other factors for insecurity not only in the northern parts of the country but also in the entire Sahel region.
At a public event where the duo spoke in Abuja, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, also warned against neglecting the Sahel region, which he said is responsible for insecurity in the axis.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) organized the lecture titled “Dissecting Nigeria’s Challenges, Genesis, Impact, and Options.”
Abubakar listed poverty, unemployment, climate change, and environmental degradation, as well as the proliferation of small arms, as the fertile grounds that breed the security challenge in Nigeria in particular and the African continent in general.
The ex-head of state said, “In 2020 alone, a whopping 4,660 people were killed in the region, while another 2,600 civilians lost their lives in banditry attacks in 2021.”
He explained that the lecture organized by the NAN was, therefore, part of the national efforts to enliven public discourse on the debilitating challenges of kidnapping for ransom, militancy, and violent ultranationalism, among others.
Speaking in the same vein, Information Minister Malagi said the violence of banditry exploits weak structures, porous borders, and social marginalisation, among others.
He added that tackling insecurity in the Sahel requires the efforts and support of all the countries in the region, stressing that no one country can do it alone.
President Bola Tinubu, represented by the National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu, was present at the lecture.
Others include the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, the Sultan of Sokoto (who was represented), the Emir of Kano, Aminu Ado Bayero, and Mohammed Ibn Chambas, the guest speaker at the occasion (who is the African Union’s Chief Mediator on Sudan).
*Sultan warns against neglecting the Sahel region
Warning against the neglect of the Sahel region, which, according to him, has been responsible for insecurity in the area, the Sultan said the Sahel, the vast semi-arid region of Africa separating the Sahara Desert to the north and tropical savannah to the south, is as much a land of opportunities as it is of challenges.
The Sultan submitted that with its abundant mineral resources, such as lithium, cobalt, and uranium, the desert area is today easily the richest part of the globe.
He added that the desert zone is expected to shelter 1.5 billion people by the year 2050 and has one of the largest, youngest populations in the world.
”Although it has abundant human and natural resources, offering tremendous potential for rapid economic growth, there are deep-rooted challenges, environmental, political and security that may affect the prosperity and peace of the Sahel,” Sultan Abubakar submitted.
He added, “The overarching goal of the UN Support Plan for the Sahel is to scale up efforts to accelerate shared prosperity and lasting peace in the Sahel, in the Sahel countries, and the regions at large, by implementing priorities to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2030.
“For this reason, the United Nations has developed a unique support plan targeting 10 countries to scale up efforts to accelerate prosperity and sustainable peace in the region.
“These target countries are Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Chad, the Gambia, Haiti, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. The support plan highlights the enormous opportunities in the Sahel and its vast assets in natural resources, energy, tourism and culture.
“It is aimed at mobilising public resources and tutoring target investments in the 10 countries to support ongoing efforts. It is built around the following six priority areas. Cross-border cooperation, prevention and sustainable peace, peace-to-growth, climate action, renewable energy and renewable energy,” the sultan said.
“The macroeconomic conditions in the Sahel are steadier and more robust than the continental average over the past decade. The launch of the regional support plan for the Sahel will take place in Gwane, a high-level meeting of the Sahel on the margin of the 31st summit of the African Union in Mauritania’s capital, Nukchak.
“The launch, followed by the creation and deployment of the G5 Sahel Joint Force and the United Nations Integrated Strategy for the Sahel, will bring tangible progress so countries in the region are encouraged to adopt in support from the international partners the necessary measures to implement this support plan fully.
“Now, while all these efforts are good and preventable, one important aspect of finding peace and building the economy of the Sahel has yet to be given the attention it deserves. This is the historical, cultural, and religious connections between the peoples of the Sahel.
“A lot of the social integration that took place over the centuries was driven by the religious factors of the previous age, which leveraged the existing trade routes and created new ones, while also creating new towns and cities, centers of commerce and centers of life.
“These movements have created an exciting mix of relationships over the last millennium. A good understanding of this phenomenon can provide a deeper appreciation of the factors that control some of this economy.
“It will also provide a stronger foundation in building the Sahel of the future and can use the rich human and material resources for the greater benefit of humanity,” the traditional/spiritual leader of Nigerian Muslims stated.
