Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and billionaire industrialist Aliko Dangote have delivered a stark warning to northern leaders, saying the region faces worsening insecurity, economic decline and social instability unless urgent corrective steps are taken. Both men spoke on Friday at the 25th anniversary dinner of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Kaduna.
Atiku told the gathering that the North cannot afford to be complacent while insecurity, poverty and declining education threaten its future. Without a shared vision and united action, he said, the region could “stagnate and sink deeper into insecurity.” He praised early ACF leaders for their resilience, but insisted that sentiment should give way to honest reflection and decisive strategy.
He recalled how, in 1999, he helped reconcile the region’s fractured political blocs under a committee led by the Emir of Ilorin, Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari — a process that eventually shaped today’s ACF. Atiku noted that the forum was built not just for political unity but also to drive development in line with the legacy of Sir Ahmadu Bello.
He pointed to the Sardauna’s priorities of education, agriculture and industry, stressing that those goals remain even more urgent today. He highlighted past initiatives like the Northern Education Project, which exposed failing schools and triggered reforms, and the Northern Development Project, aimed at fixing agricultural value chains and addressing climate-driven productivity drops. Yet he lamented that core challenges — from weak electricity supply to multiple taxation — still hold back northern industries.
Atiku also warned that diversity was being weaponised by actors exploiting fear and misinformation. He urged the region to learn from countries like India and China that built strong economies despite ethnic and religious pluralism. The North, he said, must urgently confront issues of population growth, food security, education, job creation and readiness for a modern, knowledge-driven world. “If ever there was a moment for the North to come together, that time is now,” he said.
Dangote echoes concerns
In his remarks, Dangote linked the North’s economic struggles and rising insecurity to decades of inconsistent policies and chronic power shortages. He said many once-thriving industries collapsed because government policies kept shifting, undermining investor confidence.
Dangote recalled commissioning Arthur Andersen (now part of KPMG) to investigate why northern textile giants and industrialists failed despite early promise. The conclusions, he said, pointed largely to unpredictable policies and unreliable electricity. He revealed that the Dangote Group only uses public power supply in South Africa and Ethiopia due to Nigeria’s unstable grid, warning that “without electricity, you cannot have growth, no matter how hard you try.”
He added that today’s insecurity — including banditry and widespread youth unemployment — is the direct result of years of economic neglect. Dangote urged northern leaders to commit to a long-term development blueprint built on education, industry and agriculture. With its vast landmass and large population, he said, the North could become West Africa’s agricultural powerhouse if properly planned and funded.
He cautioned that failure to act quickly could allow the region’s crises to “consume everyone, whether guilty or not.”
Despite the celebratory atmosphere of the ACF’s silver jubilee, both Atiku and Dangote emphasised that the moment should serve as a sobering reminder. Their message was unmistakable: the North is at a crossroads — and the cost of inaction could be severe.