By Muhammad Mamman
Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has warned that the escalating insecurity and poverty in northern Nigeria have become so dire that they must now be treated as a national emergency rather than a regional concern.
Dogara spoke on Tuesday during a panel session at the Nigeria Investment and Industrialisation Summit (NNIIS) 2025 organised by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) in Abuja, where he lamented the worsening bloodshed across the region.
The former Speaker said the magnitude of killings in the North had spiritual implications, describing it as a “curse” that has crippled development.
“With the kind of bloodletting we are witnessing in the North, if you are a person of faith, you will know that we are operating under a curse because it is human blood.
“The effect of a curse is that you sweat without results. That is why we are sweating in this part of the country without any tangible outcome”,he said .
Dogara insisted that security must be the top priority before any meaningful development could occur, urging governors in the 19 northern states to pool resources to combat the menace.
“If it will mean pulling all the 19 northern states’ resources together to tackle insecurity, we must do it. Otherwise, all our conversations here will amount to nothing,” he stressed.
Dogara also urged the region to stop depending on external solutions, saying northerners must take charge of their own destiny.
“We need to depart from doing business as usual and embrace radical, transformative action. Help is not coming from anywhere — we must take our destiny into our own hands,” he warned.
He argued that without the development of the region’s vast population, Nigeria’s overall progress would remain stalled.
“The development of northern Nigeria is not a regional prerogative. It must be seen as a national emergency. If the vast number of people we have in the North are not developed, Nigeria is going nowhere.”
However, former Senate President Bukola Saraki countered Dogara’s call for northern governors to consolidate resources, saying the challenge required a holistic national approach involving both government and the private sector.
Saraki argued that some governors were already taking innovative steps, citing examples in Nasarawa and Zamfara states.
“We shouldn’t think it’s easy to put all the blame on governors. Even if you put a super governor in those states today, you won’t see investments unless there are incentives,” he said.
He stressed the need for a structured national development plan that clearly defines the roles of all stakeholders, including state governments, the private sector, and the federal government.
Also speaking, Bello El-Rufai, a member of the House of Representatives, said the region’s youth population — often seen as a potential asset — had become a liability due to their involvement in banditry and cybercrime.
“The most that get recruited by bandits are young people. The young people doing cybercrimes are also within our group,” he said.
El-Rufai added that while more young people were now being appointed into public positions, the focus must shift to building a culture of respect, mentorship, innovation, and service among the youth.
