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Northern Governors to host American investors

By BusinessNews Staff on March 22, 2014

Chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State, will in May lead other northern governors to host an investment summit of visiting American investors eager to solve the problem of terrorism through massive development of the region.

This was disclosed to THISDAY yesterday in an exclusive interview with Nigeria’s ambassador to the US, Professor Ade Adefuye, after the governors met with US National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, at the White House.

The ambassador said shortly after the meeting, the governors were talking to investors on the various resources in their states and their potential for development, while the investors were telling them what services they could provide.

They heeded the advice that there was need to concentrate on development issues rather than political considerations and the blame game on the federal government.
As a result, a number of investment institutions will be visiting parts of the north in May to explore how the American angle of massive development for the region could be attained.

“They will be looking at ways of introducing development projects especially in agriculture, projects that will help create jobs and accelerate socio-economic development,” Adefuye stressed. Among the investment institutions programmed for the May Economic Mission are Eximbank, the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Chamber of Commerce with the likelihood that many more will follow before the due date
Another source told THISDAY the emphasis was less politics and more of development within the region

All the governors who went into the private meeting with Ambassador Rice were told the gathering must not be misunderstood as a trial run for 2015, just as it must be clear that accusing President Goodluck Jonathan of being indifferent or the mastermind of terror in the northern part of the country was unfair and absolutely illogical.

According to Adefuye, the emphasis after his speech where he stressed terrorism in the region could not be attributed to poverty but neglect by the elite, shifted to social and economic development.

Later in a blog posted by Grant Harris, Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council, he stated that “the National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice welcomed 12 governors and one deputy-governor from Nigeria to the White House to discuss areas of strategic importance to both the United States and Nigeria.

“Ambassador Rice and the governors discussed the need to bring an end to the violence and insurgency in northern Nigeria; create broad-based economic opportunity in the north and throughout Nigeria; protect and respect human rights; strengthen democratic governance; and ensure that the 2015 elections in Nigeria are free and fair. The meeting was an important opportunity to underscore the U.S. partnership with the government — at both the federal and state levels — and people of Nigeria.”

The visiting officials, Harris noted, represented Nigeria’s north and Middle Belt, which face numerous security, development, and socioeconomic challenges adding that the leaders shared their concerns about the on-going Boko Haram insurgency that has indiscriminately killed hundreds of innocent Nigerians this year.”

Ambassador Rice and the governors agreed on the need for a comprehensive approaches to counterinsurgency that couple security measures with deepened investment to promote opportunity and development across the country, drawing special attention to the importance of Nigeria’s 2015 elections; the role that governors can play in countering corruption; and how the United States remains committed to partnering Nigeria to address shared challenges.

According to Adefuye, Boko Haram is not the result of poverty but the result of decades of bad governance by the post-independence political elites in the country.
“The facts behind my assertion cannot be controverted. Hence attacks on President Jonathan for a problem he did not create and against which he is taking strong and carefully calibrated measures is not only unfair but absolutely illogical.”

Adefuye who said the meeting was convened by United States Institute of Peace (USIP) to strengthen the mutual relationship between Nigeria and the US reminded the governors whose presence cut across party lines that the 2015 elections would come and go but that “insecurity, poverty and the various national pathologies would remain with us for as long as the political elites in our country, several of who are in this hall choose to prioritise politics over development,” urging them to refrain from political grandstanding aimed at scoring cheap political points.

The ambassador said the meeting was an occasion to put heads together and solve the problems of Boko Haram and violence across the northern region because, he noted, “the challenges of development and insecurity across northern Nigeria and indeed across the length and breadth of the country do not wear party colours but are national problems requiring a bi-partisan approach to solve.”

On the first day of the meeting, three of the governors, Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, idris Wada of Kogi State and Abdulfattah Ahmed of Kwara State discussed social and economic conditions in the north while Kashim Shettima of Borno State, Gabriel Suswam of Benue State and Murtala Nyako of Adamawa State discussed the security situation in the region with the post-lunch discussions dwelling on the shared experiences from other countries led by Dr David Smock a Vice President of USIP and Professor Paul Lubeck of John Hopkins University.

[This Day]

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