Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, has said that tackling insecurity is critical in order to meet the development aspirations of Northern Nigeria.

Governor Sule stated this while speaking at the Northern Nigeria Investment and Industrialization Summit in Abuja on Monday.

According to the Governor, Northern leaders must take full responsibility for their region’s security, insisting that the time for blame trading is over.

He insisted that securing the region is the essential first step to enabling growth and investment in its key economic sectors of mining, agriculture, and power.

“The number one priority is we must approach security, and we should stop blaming anybody for our insecurity. We take responsibility on our own that we are responsible for our security, and we work on our security,” he stated.

Governor Sule who doubles as the Chairman of the North Central Governors Forum, appealed for sincerity of purpose in tackling insecurity in the North.

‘What we expect out of this is sincerity. You know, we’ll be sincere with ourselves. Stop blaming anybody. If we are blaming anybody, let’s blame ourselves. Let’s take it upon ourselves to go from one end to another so we’ll be able to solve our problem. I strongly believe that is the right way to go,” he said.

While welcoming the decision to streamline development initiatives in the North, he called for synergy between governors of the region, with a view to focusing only in their areas of competitive advantage instead of initiating broad development initiatives that may not see the light of day.

“There is no better time for Northern Nigeria than now. This is the best time to look at our areas of competitive advantage. We have to be realistic with ourselves. We cannot be everywhere, but we have to look at the areas where we know that we have competitive advantages,”he said.

Governor Sule pointed out that there us every need to turn around development aspirations in the North, particularly at a time when Nigeria is facing challenges as a result of the fiscal reforms initiated by President Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

“Two of the major reforms that resulted into these economic challenges have to do with the unification of the foreign exchange, as well as the withdrawal of subsidy. But they have also brought a lot of goodness.

“I know most of you are already aware of what is happening today. The three tiers of government are sharing more revenue than ever before. For the first time, this month, as a matter of fact, we have seen over 2.2 trillion that was shared between the three tiers of government. When I first came as a governor in 2019 we were sharing anywhere between 590 billion to 620 billion monthly. So today we are sharing four times that amount,” he said.

He said the only way the common man in the North could realise the gains in revenue, especially that governors now have more resources, is to bring investment to the region.

He explained that these funds provide a unique opportunity for state-led investment, citing Nasarawa State’s own investments in mineral processing and large-scale rice farming as examples of this new potential.

The Governor called for sincere partnerships between state governments and private investors to harness the North’s competitive advantages, adding that with greater resources and a collective focus on security, Northern states are now better positioned than ever to drive meaningful development and economic prosperity for their people.

As part of activities lined up for the event, Northern governors signed an Integrated Charter Compendium, a framework for regional cooperation on development.

Conveners of the event, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), said the Northern Nigeria Investment and Industrialisation Summit (NNIIS) 2025, is a 10-year blueprint for transformation, a framework designed to reposition Northern Nigeria as a hub of innovation, industrialisation and inclusive growth.

The summit has the theme: “Unlocking Strategic Opportunities in Mining, Agriculture and Power (MAP 2025)”.