Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, has said Northern politicians, past and present, are responsible for poverty in the region.
Senator Uba Sani said the number of unbanked northerners, out-of-school children and those living in poverty is scary.
He said the cause of insecurity and crisis in the region affecting Nigeria was because the northern politicians in the last 15 years put more northerners below the poverty line.
He said his administration had to open accounts for 2.1 million Kaduna residents to be able to support them. He added that throughout the North, 65 to 70 percent of northerners are financially excluded because they are unbanked.
“In the last six months, we opened accounts for 2.1 million in banks. That is why we can support them. In many parts of northern Nigeria, in some states, about 65 northerners are unbanked, that is why we are having crisis of poverty, crisis of insecurity.”
Governor Sani said this on Tuesday while speaking on NTA Good Morning programme.
“In North, we have millions of out-of-school children. Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children in the whole world, but 7o percent of that number are domiciled in North, for me that is scary.
He continued, “That is why when people are complaining about insecurity, about poverty, I ask everyone, all of us who are in who politics, who are in government, even some who are in private sector in Northern Nigeria, we need to look at ourselves in the mirror and tell ourselves the truth, all of us must be blamed.”
“In the last 15 years, the level of poverty in northern Nigeria is very scary. In 15 years ago, if you look at the poverty index, only about 35 percent of our people are below the poverty line.
“Today, 15 years, in some states about 70 states of our people are below the poverty line. so I believe all the politicians in northern Nigeria, whether you are former president, former vice president, whether you are a senator, a governor, a minister in the last 15 years you must be blamed for that.
“So we need to sit down and stop blaming everyone and blame ourselves and we need to find solution, that is unacceptable and we should also stop misinforming our people this time. we need to find solution,” he added.
The Kaduna State governor said his administration would ensure the resettlement of victims of banditry was done transparently. He said his administration had to include community leaders and affected families in the process to ensure transparency.
