Northwest governors sign MoU for economic commission

Seven governors of the Northwest geopolitical zone of the country yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish an economic commission.The governors, who considered and adopted the legal framework within which the process would function, agreed on a common front on the cooperation and integration within the region centered on agriculture.

The initiative is to be prosecuted by the Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP), the main consultants vested with the responsibility of driving the process forwards.

The governors, Abubakar Bagudu (Kebbi), Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa), Abdulaziz Yari (Zamfara), Aminu Bello Masari (Katsina), Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto), Nasir El-Rufa’i (Kaduna) and Abdullahi Umar Ganduje (Kano) also considered presentations by MTN on Animal Identification Management Solutions (AIMS), which among other things, is targeted towards mitigating cattle rustling with the aid of tracking device.

Masari, who briefed newsmen at the end of the meeting, explained: “We have signed an MoU to establish an economic commission between the seven northwestern states and you know we have been on this for more than a year. That is what we agreed and discussed upon.”

On implications of the meeting on the lives of the people in the region, he said: “The whole idea is to improve the quality of life of the people. We have comparative advantage in agriculture almost equal or even more than any other region in the country and we believe that the region was developed based on agriculture and we can still do it. So, really, when we do agriculture, we are doing everything for the country.

“Agriculture, under normal circumstances, is supposed to employ over 70 per cent of the population, which is rural and depends on agriculture. So, agriculture offers much more opportunity for employment from primary to secondary and to processing.”