Economic development is North’s biggest challenge – Audu Ogbeh

By Kunle Sanni –

Former Minister of Agriculture and Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Audu Ogbeh, has raised the alarm over the deepening economic crisis in Northern Nigeria, warning that the region’s survival depends more on urgent economic revival than on political activity.

In an interview with Daily Trust, Ogbeh emphasized that the North is the weakest part of the Nigerian equation, lamenting its lack of industrial development, declining agricultural productivity, and increasing poverty.

“The biggest challenge in the North is not political. It’s economic. The North is the weakest part of the Nigerian equation. We have no industries. Even the agriculture we’re famous for is in serious trouble because farmers can’t even go to the farm,” he said.

Ogbeh recalled a conversation with former Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele, who told him that 72 percent of Nigeria’s currency circulates in Lagos, leaving only 28 percent for the rest of the country. He said this imbalance underscores the need for northern leaders to prioritize economic development.

“Politics should be the least important thing on our table,” he warned. “The economy is not good. We are essentially peasant farmers… and many of the peasants can’t produce much.”

He expressed concern over the collapse of once-thriving industries, especially in Kano, and criticized governors for failing to drive industrialization and for weakening the local government system.

“Governors don’t allow the local government to function. The villages are empty. Youths have turned into criminals. They all believe that by moving to Abuja, they will find a living,” Ogbeh lamented.

He concluded that the region’s overreliance on politics as a means of survival is unsustainable and dangerous, warning that growing economic frustration in the North could provoke resentment from other regions that may come to see the North as a burden.