29 August 2008
Lagos — Chairman, Conference of Northern States Chambers of Commerce Mines and Agriculture (CONSCCIMA), Mr Jani Ibrahim, has said about 35 per cent of land cultivated 50 years ago is now desert areas in 11 northern states.
Ibrahim, wo is also Speaker of Borno State House of Assembly, said this yesterday in Sokoto, when he visited the Sultan of Sokoto, Sultan Sa'ad Abubakar III.
He said urgent steps must, therefore, be taken to address the problem before it gets out of hand.
"Poverty is not the only problem in the north, desert encroachment is also basically a northern affair and all stakeholders must adopt a holistic approach toward solving the problems," he said, adding that poverty in contemporary Nigeria, has been identified with the north.
"The 10 poorest states in Nigeria are in the Northand it is only in the northern part of the country that you have a poverty level of over 50 per cent of the population. The facts of our current circumstances in the north are well known to you; there is the urgent need for the Sultanate to do something about the situation," Ibrahim said.
He said CONSCCIMA, as the organised private sector body made up of chambers of commerce in the 19 northern states, had resolved to take steps to reverse the dwindling economic fortunes of the area.
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