Senior lawmakers, development experts and stakeholders converged in the Yar’Adua Hall in Kaduna for the North West Development Summit, calling for a coordinated economic rescue of the region.
The summit, themed “Advancing a Coordinated Regional Development for North West Nigeria,” became a rallying point for confronting what speakers described as the region’s real problem — not lack of resources, but lack of coordination.
Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, declared that the North West must deliberately reposition itself to shape Nigeria’s economic direction through strong regional institutions rather than fragmented interventions.
Barau said the creation of the North West Development Commission (NWDC) was a strategic response to decades of disjointed development efforts that failed to produce systemic impact across states.
According to him, while the region remains Nigeria’s largest agricultural belt and home to tens of millions of citizens, it continues to battle insecurity, infrastructure deficits, youth unemployment, climate stress and weak access to social services.
“These challenges do not respect state boundaries; therefore, our solutions must rise above them,” he said, stressing that the summit was a call to political coordination and policy coherence.
He assured that the National Assembly would provide the legislative backing and oversight needed for the NWDC to succeed under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
Barau urged stakeholders to move beyond rhetoric and focus on building systems that would directly improve lives, warning that history would judge leaders by outcomes, not gatherings.
In his welcome address, Chairman of the Senate Committee on the NWDC, Senator Babangida Hussaini, painted a stark picture of a region that once powered Nigeria’s economy through groundnut pyramids, cotton, textiles and hides and skin production but now struggles with poverty and unemployment.
Hussaini noted that despite contributing over 40 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural output and hosting some of West Africa’s largest markets, the North West ranks high in poverty indices and out-of-school children statistics.
He blamed the situation on years of development pursued in silos — state by state and agency by agency — resulting in duplication without scale and spending without lasting impact.
According to him, insecurity alone now drains the regional economy of billions of naira annually through disrupted farming cycles, lost productivity and capital flight.
He said the establishment of the NWDC and the Ministry of Regional Development signalled a reset, acknowledging that regional problems demand coordinated regional solutions.
Hussaini outlined four priority pillars for the region’s recovery: security and stability, infrastructure and connectivity, agriculture and industrial value addition, and human capital development.
“No economy grows where farmers cannot farm and traders cannot trade,” he said, calling for investment in transport corridors, energy, irrigation, storage and broadband.
He added that processing even a fraction of grains, tomatoes, cotton, hides and livestock within the region could generate massive employment and expand the regional economy.
Chairman of the occasion and former Vice President, Arch. Mohammed Namadi Sambo, reinforced the urgency, saying the NWDC must move beyond documentation to tangible impact in the lives of citizens.
Sambo explained that the Act establishing the Commission provides a framework for coordinated infrastructure development, economic growth, social transformation and environmental sustainability.
He cited abandoned power projects in Kaduna, including a 250MW thermal plant and a 30MW Gurara hydropower facility left idle for over a decade, as examples of why coordinated planning is critical.
He also referenced the long-delayed multi-purpose dam expected to generate 40MW of electricity, irrigate 35,000 hectares and supply water to Kaduna metropolis as projects that must be unlocked.
The former Vice President called for partnerships with private investors, development partners and power agencies to revive stalled assets and expand renewable energy across the region.
Across the speeches, a common message stood out: the North West’s revival is not a regional favour but a national economic necessity.
Speakers urged governments, lawmakers, development partners, academics and community leaders to ensure that the summit marks a turning point where coordination translates into visible development.
As deliberations began, participants were reminded that the true test of the NWDC would be how effectively it turns dialogue into action and action into measurable improvement in people’s lives.
