Zamfara State Governor Dauda Lawal on Tuesday said northwest Governors were seeking closer coordination on security, infrastructure and agriculture, stressing that shared planning across state lines was necessary to confront the region’s persistent instability and unlock investment in mineral resources.
Governor Lawal spoke to journalists on the outcome of a meeting of seven Governors from the North-West States on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States.
He said insecurity in the North-West could not be addressed effectively by States pursuing separate strategies.
“We have a common problem, which is insecurity and infrastructure, and these are key issues that were discussed at the meeting,” Lawal said.
“We pledged to support one another because everything we do affects every other person.”
The Governors discussed cooperation, regional integration and ways to align public policy, he said.
The seven States – Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara – are aligning around one framework to address insecurity and vulnerability while expanding livelihoods, jobs, essential services and economic opportunity.
“If I’m doing something different from what Sokoto or Kebbi or Katsina or Kaduna is doing, it won’t really show much impact. But when it’s collective and we have a common goal, and we share ideas, I think it will go a long way in changing the narrative, especially in security.”
NewsQuest reports that the country’s North-West has faced years of banditry, kidnappings and attacks on rural communities, disruptions that have undermined farming, trade and investment across the region.
Governor Lawal said the states’ economic prospects were also closely linked, particularly in agriculture.
“The entire North is a purely agrarian economy. What are we doing to boost agricultural production? We have to make a conscious effort to see how we can achieve a complete transformation in that area,” he said.
For Zamfara, that transformation also includes formalising the mining industry and using the state’s reserves of gold, lithium and other minerals to attract outside capital.
“Zamfara State is the home base of critical minerals,” Lawal said.
“This is what is happening now around the world, especially in the era of technology, as it relates to mining – lithium and gold. These are things that we have in abundance.”
The Zamfara State Governor also said his administration was working to bring mining activity into a more formal and regulated framework, with the aim of attracting foreign direct investment and ensuring that investors had the financial and technical capacity to operate.
“We are working to formalise the sector so that we can attract foreign direct investment,” he said.
“We have started doing that, but we want to make it bigger.”
Lawal cautioned that the governors’ regional plans would require detailed preparation and financing rather than quick results.
The states would return to their respective capitals to develop operational arrangements for collective action.
“Everything needs planning. You don’t expect something to happen overnight. You have to put a strategy in place. You have to plan effectively, and, of course, finance is also key because no matter what you want to do, if you don’t have the capital to do it, it comes to nothing.”
On the 2027 general election, Governor Lawal said the North-West was prepared and that his government’s immediate task was to consolidate initiatives already under way.
“Election is just a process which we are all ready to go through,” he said.
“What we need to do, by the time we come to 2027, is just to consolidate on some of the things that we’ve started.”
Governor Lawal struck an optimistic note on the nation’s broader outlook despite the country’s economic pressures and security challenges.
He said foreign engagement and access to technology and capital would be central to the country’s development agenda.
“The future of Nigeria is very, very bright,” he said. “There is no nation that has no issues. It is about how we are able to handle those issues.”
He added that Nigeria should not restrict its search for investors and technical partners to any one country.
Investment proposals, he said, would be subjected to scrutiny to establish whether prospective partners possessed the capacity to deliver.
“We are looking for technology as well as capacity. We are open, and everything that we do will be measured and validated. We go through a lot of scrutiny to make sure whoever is coming into Nigeria has the capacity to do business with us,” Governor Lawal said.
Security remains a major consideration for investors, he said, but it should not halt development.
According to Lawal, economic development and the responsible use of the region’s comparative advantages could help reduce the conditions that fuel insecurity.
“We should be judged by what we have, the comparative advantage we have, and that will invariably tackle the security issues,” he said. “What we need is development.”
Home to more than 60 million people, Northwest Nigeria is central to Nigeria’s food systems, domestic commerce and regional trade. Its economic assets include agriculture, livestock, industry, solid minerals, renewable energy, digital innovation and major commercial corridors connecting communities and markets within Nigeria and across neighboring countries, according to UNDP-Nigeria.
