Kaduna gov seeks common agenda to tackle North challenges

File: Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani.

Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, has urged political leaders in Northern Nigeria to shift their focus from the struggle for political power at the centre and develop a common blueprint to address the region’s worsening human capital challenges.

Sani said the North was confronted by multiple challenges, including a high number of out-of-school children, inadequate skills-based education and poor access to quality healthcare, particularly for women and children.

The governor spoke on Thursday when the leadership of the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation, led by former Niger State Governor, Dr Babangida Aliyu, paid him a courtesy visit at the Kaduna State Government House.

He commended the foundation for mobilising northern political leaders around issues of human capital development, stressing that the region needed a common agenda to address its challenges.

Sani said the forthcoming Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation Summit, themed “Good Governance, Industry and Creativity, as well as Sustainable Development,” was timely.

He said, “I’m happy the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation is leading in this direction because we need to sit down, look at our problems and address them holistically.”

The governor expressed concern over maternal and child mortality in the region, as well as the large population of children out of school.

According to him, available UNICEF statistics put the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria at about 18 million, with 70 per cent of them in Northern Nigeria.

Sani said more than 500,000 children were roaming the streets of Kaduna when he assumed office, adding that his administration had returned about 360,000 of them to school.

He explained that the state’s household-mapping initiative, which was used to identify out-of-school children, had attracted the attention of the Federal Ministry of Education as a model for tackling the problem nationally.

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On healthcare, the governor said his administration was prioritising primary healthcare because of its importance to poor and rural residents, while also investing in secondary healthcare.

“For us, healthcare in Kaduna is the fundamental right of everyone, particularly the less privileged and the vulnerable within our society,” he said.

Sani also highlighted the state’s efforts to promote skills-based education through the Kaduna State Institute of Vocational Training and Skills Development, with campuses in Soba, Rigachikun and Samaru Kataf.

He said the institute provided practical training in areas such as information and communication technology, mechatronics and renewable energy.

“The institute has graduated more than 4,000 artisans and tradespeople, a bold step towards reducing unemployment and enhancing human capital development,” the governor said.

He added that the state was working towards admitting about 32,000 youths annually into the skills programme.

“That means in a year, we have the capacity to train at least 30,000 youths, who will be given certification at the end of their training that will enable them to work anywhere in the world,” Sani said.

Earlier, Aliyu, who led the foundation’s delegation, thanked the governor for allocating 50 hectares of land to the organisation for the establishment of the proposed Arewa Unity University.

The former governor recalled that the late Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa, had earlier allocated land adjacent to Murtala Mohammed Square to the foundation, where its office was subsequently built.

Aliyu announced that the foundation’s summit would be held on October 28, 2026, with Sani as the chief host and special guest of honour.