Economic Confidential, August  2008

MONETARY

Unity Bank Boss Berates Northern Governors for Regional Economic woes

The Managing Director of Unity Bank, Malam Falalu Bello has restated the pain of Nigerians over the failure of the 19 Northern states to concentrate on other abundant resources in their areas for economic development especially in the areas of agricultural policy towards eradicating poverty, unemployment and backwardness.

Bello, who stated that the inability of Northern states to replace the agricultural policy of the defunct Northern region had continued to have negative effect on the socio-economic wellbeing of the people of the area, however called on the Northern governors to make agriculture an attractive business for banks to provide adequate financing.

In his paper titled "Making Agriculture a Profitable Operation, Solution to Solving Credit Problems of the Nigerian Farmer" delivered at the First Northern Agricultural Summit in Kaduna he  said long neglect of the agricultural sector by successive governments resulted in the collapse of textile and other industries for which the region was once noted.

The North according to him had become a dumping ground for imported foods and textile materials, a situation, which had placed the region as the most economically backward and to have the highest level of poverty with its people labelled as parasites by the other parts of the country.

He pointed out that: "Failure of the Northern governments to evolve and develop a coherent agricultural policy to replace what Northern Nigerian Government did before the 1966 coup has failed the Northern economy. Many of us here today are old enough to remember with nostalgia the days of the ground-nut pyramids, hide and skin, cotton and many other produce that funded the economy of the Northern Nigeria. Even those not too old can surely remember the booming textile factories of Kakuri (Kaduna) and the vegetable oil mills of Kano that are all agro allied manufacturing outlets using our cotton and groundnut seeds."

Mallam Bello added that the abolition of marketing boards, withdrawal of subsidy and the current inefficient administration of 25 per cent subsidy have largely contributed to unprofitable nature of agriculture in Northern Nigeria. He regretted that  the paucity of fund in the agricultural sector, stating that less than 10 percent of total credits go to the sector and that it would be impossible for the peasant farmer to afford borrowing at the current rates of 20 to 30 percent.

The banker used the occasion to advise the northern state governors to immediately ensure that the commodity companies that failed to take off during the Obasanjo administration were brought to life to guarantee a minimum price for some selected agricultural pro-ducts and to assure farmers of the recovery of their cost of production and make a minimum profit of between 10 to 20 percent.

Bello noted that in spite of the projected N50billion that both the federal and state governments would be spending on fertilizer this year; the farm input was still being sold at prices beyond the reach of the average farmer. He therefore called for an urgent review of the fertilizer subsidy administration before the next cropping season in order to ensure that farmers actually get the intended subsidy.

The Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and also Governor of Niger State, Dr Muazu Babangida Aliyu, had earlier, in reaction to those calling the northerners parasites, stated that the region can exist without the oil produced in the Niger Delta, if it harnessed its agricultural resources well. He added that the North can feed Nigeria and the neighboring countries if agriculture in the region is well harnessed.