KATSINA – A cross section of speakers at a forum to commemorate the 58 years Remembrance Anniversary of the late Premier of the defunct Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, have urged the region’s leaders to emulate his leadership virtues.

The lecture which had the theme “The North Can Rise Again” was organized by the Katsina State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Katsina on Monday.

One of the guest lecturers, Prof. Mansur Usman Malumfashi of the Faculty of Education, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, observed that the north can only rise again if it is able to surmount its economic, social and security challenges.

Malumfashi who noted that, the challenges are too numerous, however said the leadership in the North must be ready to address these issues to enable the North to rise again.

According to him, with a leadership that has a sense of responsibility, fairness, equity and justice, Arewa can rise again and reclaim it’s lost glory.

“Honesty is not the only attributes needed by leaders, monitoring and evaluation of assigned tasks is a duty on every leader, as every leader must account for his leadership role”.

The University Don also argued that, if the stakeholders in the leadership of the north want the region to prosper, the issue of insecurity must be tackled headlong, adding that, insecurity demands collective resolve and action.

“If one state works in isolation, the menace will spread to neighboring states”, he maintained, commending the courage of the Katsina State Govemor for spearheading the fight against banditry, kidnapping and other vices.

Other critical ingredients to sustainable development, as noted by the don, include good governance, economic revival, provision big affordable healthcare, energy to power the economy, education, demographic reforms, and effective fight against abuse of hard drugs and narcotics among others.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of NUJ Katsina State Council, Tukur Hassan Dan Ali, said the council organized the lecturer in recognition of the immense contributions of the late Premier of Northern Nigeria in all aspects of social and economic development.

Dan Ali said the commemoration will be made an annual event where the union will raise awareness on the need for good and accountable governance in the state.

Culled from Independent Newspaper