Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State believes the battle against insecurity in northern Nigeria won’t be won by force but by confronting poverty and economic exclusion head-on.
Speaking on Sunday, May 18, in an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Sani warned that unless the region addresses these underlying issues, armed conflict and unrest will persist.
“I came from the trenches. I fought successive governments in the past, during the military era. I went to detention a few times, fighting for justice and equality,” he said, reflecting on his activist roots and the urgency of real change.
From day one in office, Sani said he focused on confronting poverty with data and action, drawing on his time as chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking.
“When I came in as governor, what I did was to look at the poverty index, not only in the state but of the entire North. I was the chairman of the Committee on Banking.
“I had the data, the statistics from the Development Department of the Central Bank, from the SDG. I can tell you, sitting here, the poverty index as of 2023, when we came in, was alarming,” he said.
He revealed that up to 65 percent of people in the North, particularly the North-West, were financially excluded, making it easier for bandits to recruit jobless youths.
“This problem of insecurity, I can tell you, is largely an economic issue, poverty, unemployment. That is the reason why our people can easily be recruited by these bandits,” Sani explained.
He also painted a worrying picture of education in the region. “When I took over, over 350,000 children were out of school in Kaduna,” he said.
But there’s been some progress, thanks to cooperation with global institutions.
“Two months ago, I sat down with the Vice President of the World Bank. We looked at the UNICEF statistics. I can tell you, out of the 18.2 million out-of-school children today, the North is responsible for about 70% of that number.
“There are improvements in taking out-of-school children; the figure is different, and we are addressing the problem gradually,” he said.
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Still, he doesn’t sugarcoat the scale of the problem. “Things are getting better, but nobody can tell you we can address this problem even in the next ten years, and I will tell you why. Because I’m a very realistic person.
“This problem didn’t start two years ago. It started many years back because we were docile. We did not approach the issue holistically. We had the opportunity to push in the past, but we didn’t do it,” Sani said.
He called on Northern leaders to stop making excuses and start working together.
“The North needs to sit down and face this reality if we want to bring back the glory of our zone. But I am happy that everyone, from the ministers to the senators, House of Representatives members, and governors, we are all on the same page for the first time,” he said.
Giving out palliatives or relying on military might won’t work, he warned.
“We cannot win insecurity through a kinetic approach, nor through giving people palliatives. We must look at the drivers and symptoms.
“We have to address the gap in terms of economic prosperity between our people in urban areas and those in rural communities,” he added.
Sani also blamed long-term neglect for the region’s poor infrastructure, health systems, and education, calling them key contributors to poverty.
“When you look at some areas in the North-West, you’d agree that there is a lot of poverty. We have a lot of deficits in terms of infrastructure, education, healthcare, and many other basic issues,” he said.
Despite the challenges, he noted that Kaduna has made progress on security.
“Most of the crises we used to have were farmer-herder and religious crises. In the last two years, we have not experienced any. It’s not eradicated, but it has reduced tremendously,” he said.
Ultimately, he said, people must feel seen and treated fairly. “People will only believe in the government when there is justice and fairness. We are not saying that things are not really bad, but there is progress,” the governor said.