The Executive Governor of Zamfara State, Dauda Lawal Dare, has harped on the need for Nigeria to rise up to the challenge of power infrastructure, as no nation or region can industrialise using generating sets.
He made the call on Monday at the Northern Nigeria Investment and Industrialisation Summit, organised by the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), with the theme: Unlocking Strategic Opportunities in Mining, Agriculture and Power, simply tagged NMAP25, in Abuja.
Dauda noted: “We must commit to building enabling infrastructure, particularly in the area of power. No nation or region has ever industrialised with generators. The power sector is the engine room for industrialisation. Taking advantage of the Electricity Act 2023, we must pool our resources and political will to develop a northern power strategy. This involves not just connecting to the national grid but aggressively investing in embedded generation.”
Dauda, who hailed the focus of the Summit — tackling mining, agriculture, and power — stated that the prosperity of the North must be built on those sectors.
He said: “The choice of sectors — mining, agriculture, and power — is not accidental. It is a strategic diagnosis of the core pillars upon which the prosperity of Northern Nigeria must be built. A land blessed with immense mineral wealth, vast arable land, yet our people have not fully reaped the dividends of these endowments. The question before us as leaders is not what needs to be done, but how we must collectively act to transform potentials into prosperity. To attract investment, we also need to industrialise our region.”
Dauda decried the level of insecurity in the region, stressing that no meaningful investment can be attracted there if the menace is not checked.
“We must collectively secure people and investments. Security is the fundamental prerequisite for any meaningful development. Investors, both domestic and international, are not philanthropists. They are realists. They will not commit capital if it is not safe. We, as leaders across the 19 northern states, must deepen our collaboration beyond politics. We must integrate our security architectures, share intelligence in real time, and foster greater community policing to create a secure, predictable environment,” he insisted.
The Governor also pointed out the need for the region to harmonise land administration and tax incentive policies for uniformity and clarity.
“We must harmonise and simplify our policies. The current landscape, where investment policies and regulatory frameworks differ and sometimes conflict, creates confusion in this current landscape of regional investment.
“We must work towards a One North investment policy. This will include harmonising land administration, streamlining approvals for mining as well as agriculture, and uniform tax incentives for strategic sectors. By presenting a united, predictable, as well as business-friendly front, we become a more attractive destination than any single state could be if it is done alone.”
To achieve the regional investment and industrialisation goal, Dauda proposed that the Northern States Governors Forum consider a committee of northern state investment information agencies to draft a unified investment policy as well as a regulatory framework, which will be submitted to the NSGF Secretariat for review and ratification.
Earlier in his remarks, the convener of the summit, Prof. D.D.D Sheni, represented by Air Marshal (rtd) Al-amin Daggash, explained that the event was “not political nor a ceremony, but a mission of prosperity, a call to action, and a decisive step towards building a sustainable economic future for all of Nigeria.”
He said the theme of the summit is a ten-year blueprint for the mission to the year 2035, and a framework designed to reposition Northern Nigeria as a hub of innovation, industrialisation, and growth.
He delved into the history of Northern Nigeria’s economy, stating: “From colonial times through the early years of independence, a network of rail lines facilitated the movement of groundnuts, cotton, hides and skins, and solid minerals to the coastal states, predominantly labelled for export.
“That legacy demonstrates two enduring realities: The North has always been the engine room of Nigeria’s productive economy. Our challenge has always been infrastructure to link our vast resources to market. Today, those realities remain unchanged. Northern Nigeria is blessed with abundant mineral wealth, fertile land, and vibrant human capital. But without modern infrastructure — railways, roads, power, and storage — the full value of these resources cannot be realised.”