From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
The Board of Trustees of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF) has appealed to the people of the North to continue jealously guarding their cherished unity and to resist all unpatriotic attempts and plans by incorrigible adversaries to divide them.
This was contained in a communiqué released and signed by the convener of the group, Professor Ango Abdullahi, after a bi-annual Board of Trustees meeting held in Abuja.
According to the communiqué, the Tax Reform Bill was conceived in bad faith, poorly packaged, and poses a palpable threat to unity and national cohesion. It drew attention to the brazen, cavalier manner and suspicious way in which the Tax Reform Bill was imposed on the nation without incorporating the input of critical stakeholders. The communiqué further noted that members of the National Economic Council were kept in the dark, thus confirming the sinister intentions of those promoting the Bill.
The forum condemned in very strong terms the conspicuous silence on this burning issue by the overwhelming number of elected politicians in the National Assembly from the region. It fiercely warned that the days when such conspiratorial connivance against the vital and strategic interests of the region, whether by individuals within or outside the region, would be condoned or tolerated are fast disappearing.
Regarding the deteriorating situation in the education sector in the country in general and the North in particular, the Board-in-session expressed alarm over the high percentage—now about 60%—of students in Northern Nigeria who are unable to return to their institutions of higher learning, including universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, and legal studies, due to high tuition fees and unaffordable daily transportation costs.
The meeting also discussed the explosive crisis of out-of-school children, now estimated at 20 million across the country, with over 80% coming from the North. In light of this troubling reality, the Board-in-session expressed serious doubts about the viability and efficacy of the much-touted Federal Students Loan Scheme as a solution to this pressing issue.
The meeting strongly decried the condescending attitudes exhibited by some powerful political actors in the region, who often behave arrogantly and disdainfully as rulers rather than as leaders committed to the plight of their people.
The Board-in-session urgently called on the people of the North to stay resolute and vigilant in defence of their inalienable rights, particularly their voting rights. It urged them to resist being deceived yet again through subterfuge, the use of ill-gotten wealth, or religious manipulation by unscrupulous elements whose past records fail to reflect integrity, character, or probity.
