Northern Governors Demand Unified Front to End Security Crisis and Drive Economic Growth

A powerful gathering of Northern leaders and governors has issued an urgent call for unity, asserting that a collaborative strategy is the only way to effectively tackle the crippling security and economic challenges that have plagued Northern Nigeria for years. The consensus emerged on Monday in Abuja at the Northern Nigeria Investment and Industrialisation Summit (NNIIS) 2025, an event convened by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF). The summit, themed: “Unlocking Northern Nigeria’s Mining, Agricultural and Power Potentials (MAP2035),” is centered on a proposed 10-year blueprint for transformation. This framework, MAP2035, is designed to aggressively reposition the region as a hub for innovation, industrialisation, and inclusive growth, directly confronting the widespread underdevelopment caused by years of banditry, insurgency, farmer-herder clashes, and kidnappings.

Governors from Zamfara, Nasarawa, and Gombe states were vocal about the failures of the past. They explained that fragmented responses have severely weakened the North’s collective bargaining power and stalled progress across all spheres of life. For them, a unified approach is not optional but essential to secure the region and drive the necessary economic transformation. The governors underscored three critical areas security, finance, and infrastructure that require immediate, collaborative action to unlock the North’s vast potentials in mining, agriculture, and power. Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State stressed that security is the “bedrock of development.” He warned that investors are not philanthropists but realists who will not commit capital to unsafe environments. Lawal proposed a formal Northern Nigerian Economic Compact to unify security efforts, co-invest in infrastructure, and establish a single window for attracting major domestic and international investors.

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State pointed to the unprecedented revenue now available to subnational governments, insisting that leaders must stop blaming others for their security challenges. He argued that every state currently has the resources to secure its people and must channel these funds into transformative sectors like formalising the mining industry and expanding agricultural production, leveraging local strengths for regional benefit. Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State and Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum (NGF), identified poor infrastructure as a major barrier. He lamented that despite the region’s immense mineral wealth, fertile land, and human capital, the full value cannot be realised “without railways, roads, power, and storage.” Yahaya called for urgent reforms in project financing to dismantle “exclusionary” collateral practices and ensure Northern entrepreneurs can access necessary credit. The summit concludes today, Tuesday, during which the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) is expected to synthesize these inputs from leaders and experts to release a formal, unified communiqué outlining the concrete steps for the MAP2035 framework.