By:
NOAH EBIJE, ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE and NAFISAT BELLO, Kaduna
Date:
Fri, 05/11/2012 - 14:55
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi, said yesterday economic empowerment of the North remains a viable solution to Boko Haram insurgency. This, he said, could be done through dialogue.

He said that without such empowerment, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda would remain a dream. Boko Haram, the Islamist sect, had rendered the North’s economy almost comatose since it relentless attacks on the region and even Abuja since last year. The bombings have claimed several lives and property worth billions of Naira.

The NSA spoke through his Special Adviser on Economic Intelligence, Prof. Soji Adelaja, at the Northern Impact Summit organised by the Arewa Transformation and Empowerment Initiative (ATEI) in Kaduna yesterday. The dialogue, according to Azazi, has to come in form of economic empowerment of the sect members and the North in particular, stressing that it was unfair for the government to leave any region of the country economically nonviable.

Also, in his goodwill message, former Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Amb Yusuf Maitama Sule, said the North was now ready to tolerate what he called unbeliever or infidel in power as long as such leader could administer equal justice to every part of the country. Gen Azazi noted that the country would be better off if all the regions worked in unity for economic development.

According to Azazi, “from a practical perspective, evidence is mounting that some of the root causes of unrest and the feeling of dissatisfaction and disaffection amongst citizens are economic hardship and the lack of economic opportunity. “This is the case, not only in the North, but all over Nigeria. The failure to address these root causes of unrest tend to create fertile ground for the recruitment, indoctrination, brainwashing and training of terrorist and other insurgents.

“As President Goodluck Jonathan has so conveyed through his 2020/20 vision and various related plans and in his rendition of his transformation agenda, if we solve some of the key hindrances to our economic development, Nigeria will be one of the leading economies in the world in the next 10 years.

“One glue that holds our great nation together is the expectation that in the aggregate, we are better off together than in isolation from each other and that the achievement of prosperity is easier when we pursue it collectively. This means that our leaders must focus on the Nigerian value added, ensuring that the whole is better than the sum of the parts. Within this framework, we cannot, as a nation, afford to leave any region behind. “As we have learned from recent events in the Middle East and North Africa region, long-term failure to address long standing economic problems help erode national cohesion and the ability to advance as a nation.

“Coming home to Nigeria, even though the incidence of bombing and terrorist attacks had been concentrated in the North, it has affected our whole economy. So again, the economic prosperity of a region is a national security issue which all Nigerians must be on board to address. “I can certainly assure you that lopsided economic growth is not in the best interest of our national security. I applaud the Arewa Transformation and Empowerment Initiative for recognizing that unique attention needs to be paid to the North, that a credible agenda is critical to the North’s success, and that leadership is needed in advancing such agenda.”

Amb. Sule said: “Justice is what we need, not only in the North, but in the whole of Nigeria. Power can remain in the hands of an infidel if he is going to be fair and just, but should not remain in the hand of a believer if there would be no justice. Justice is what we need everywhere. “The world cannot be governed by force, never by fear, even not by power. What governs in the end is concept justice and fair play. And that was what the Sarduana did to unite the North; to keep the different people of the North together.

“He was able to establish one North and nobody addressed us as Hausa or Fulani or Yoruba or Nupe or Tiv, we were all called yan Arewa. Sardauna did not discriminate on the basis of religion or tribe. “Muslims and Christians are people of God. We worship the same God, but in different modes. The two religions preach peace and it is established in both religions that there is no compulsion in religion. There is no place in both that you should force anybody to embrace your own religion. It is a matter of conviction.

“Love is what is missing in the North today and indeed in Nigeria and that is why we are having these problems. If you love somebody, you don’t hurt him, not to talk of killing him. Let us preach love, let us live with love.

“The problem of the North is that we are living in poverty in the midst of plenty. Nigeria is a very wealthy country: we have oil, but it appears to me that the oil has brought us both blessing and curse. A blessing because it has brought us a lot of money with which we can develop our country, but a curse because it has changed our thoughts: we have formed a habit of sending our girlfriends to London and Paris to make their hair and do shopping in London and America. We steal the money from the oil.

“This is a negative culture. How I wish, we can use the money to develop our people and empower them. A lot of our youths are not employed and an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. We must make them occupied: if they are occupied, they will not think evil, they will not plan evil and they will not do evil”.

J12: By:
NOAH EBIJE, ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE and NAFISAT BELLO, Kaduna
Date:
Fri, 05/11/2012 - 14:55
The National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi, said yesterday economic empowerment of the North remains a viable solution to Boko Haram insurgency. This, he said, could be done through dialogue.

He said that without such empowerment, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda would remain a dream. Boko Haram, the Islamist sect, had rendered the North’s economy almost comatose since it relentless attacks on the region and even Abuja since last year. The bombings have claimed several lives and property worth billions of Naira.

The NSA spoke through his Special Adviser on Economic Intelligence, Prof. Soji Adelaja, at the Northern Impact Summit organised by the Arewa Transformation and Empowerment Initiative (ATEI) in Kaduna yesterday. The dialogue, according to Azazi, has to come in form of economic empowerment of the sect members and the North in particular, stressing that it was unfair for the government to leave any region of the country economically nonviable.

Also, in his goodwill message, former Nigerian Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Amb Yusuf Maitama Sule, said the North was now ready to tolerate what he called unbeliever or infidel in power as long as such leader could administer equal justice to every part of the country. Gen Azazi noted that the country would be better off if all the regions worked in unity for economic development.

According to Azazi, “from a practical perspective, evidence is mounting that some of the root causes of unrest and the feeling of dissatisfaction and disaffection amongst citizens are economic hardship and the lack of economic opportunity. “This is the case, not only in the North, but all over Nigeria. The failure to address these root causes of unrest tend to create fertile ground for the recruitment, indoctrination, brainwashing and training of terrorist and other insurgents.

“As President Goodluck Jonathan has so conveyed through his 2020/20 vision and various related plans and in his rendition of his transformation agenda, if we solve some of the key hindrances to our economic development, Nigeria will be one of the leading economies in the world in the next 10 years.

“One glue that holds our great nation together is the expectation that in the aggregate, we are better off together than in isolation from each other and that the achievement of prosperity is easier when we pursue it collectively. This means that our leaders must focus on the Nigerian value added, ensuring that the whole is better than the sum of the parts. Within this framework, we cannot, as a nation, afford to leave any region behind. “As we have learned from recent events in the Middle East and North Africa region, long-term failure to address long standing economic problems help erode national cohesion and the ability to advance as a nation.

“Coming home to Nigeria, even though the incidence of bombing and terrorist attacks had been concentrated in the North, it has affected our whole economy. So again, the economic prosperity of a region is a national security issue which all Nigerians must be on board to address. “I can certainly assure you that lopsided economic growth is not in the best interest of our national security. I applaud the Arewa Transformation and Empowerment Initiative for recognizing that unique attention needs to be paid to the North, that a credible agenda is critical to the North’s success, and that leadership is needed in advancing such agenda.”

Amb. Sule said: “Justice is what we need, not only in the North, but in the whole of Nigeria. Power can remain in the hands of an infidel if he is going to be fair and just, but should not remain in the hand of a believer if there would be no justice. Justice is what we need everywhere. “The world cannot be governed by force, never by fear, even not by power. What governs in the end is concept justice and fair play. And that was what the Sarduana did to unite the North; to keep the different people of the North together.

“He was able to establish one North and nobody addressed us as Hausa or Fulani or Yoruba or Nupe or Tiv, we were all called yan Arewa. Sardauna did not discriminate on the basis of religion or tribe. “Muslims and Christians are people of God. We worship the same God, but in different modes. The two religions preach peace and it is established in both religions that there is no compulsion in religion. There is no place in both that you should force anybody to embrace your own religion. It is a matter of conviction.

“Love is what is missing in the North today and indeed in Nigeria and that is why we are having these problems. If you love somebody, you don’t hurt him, not to talk of killing him. Let us preach love, let us live with love.

“The problem of the North is that we are living in poverty in the midst of plenty. Nigeria is a very wealthy country: we have oil, but it appears to me that the oil has brought us both blessing and curse. A blessing because it has brought us a lot of money with which we can develop our country, but a curse because it has changed our thoughts: we have formed a habit of sending our girlfriends to London and Paris to make their hair and do shopping in London and America. We steal the money from the oil.

“This is a negative culture. How I wish, we can use the money to develop our people and empower them. A lot of our youths are not employed and an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. We must make them occupied: if they are occupied, they will not think evil, they will not plan evil and they will not do evil”.

Mr Azazi recently you have been on the loose, i wondered what make's Gej still keeping you as National security adviser when he can see clearly that your comments are not far from been almost the same with buhari,i wonder what your comments will be soon when you ran out of political office,maybe el rufai and buhari will be little reasonable than you.Mr Azazi i have a question for you,have you not noticed that s,eastern states as a whole cannot burst of any FG infastructures in it demain,have you asked how the people of the eastern Nigeria manage to survive without FG presences in their domain or is the war not over yet? why is everybody crying for economy empowerment in the north whereas eastern Nigeria has been living without FG support.United state of America is clamouring for north to be empowered economically if i may ask does it mean that north is born to be feed by FG? and when it seems the milk has been removed out from their mouth they go violent.Nigeria will remain undeveloped except they stop this injustice.When you look at the 3 region that formerly make up Nigeria as it was formerly stated,FG developed lagos for south west,FG developed abuja for the north kano kaduna etc.God will punish all of you evil rulers.