From: Agaju Madugba, Katsina

The Northern Senators’ Forum rose from its two-day retreat in Katsina State, on Wednesday, urging proponents of restructuring of the country to desist from intimidating the region with the proposal.

The senators, however, did not take a definite position on the contentious issue of restructuring of the country.

However, the Forum, in a communiqué, described restructuring as an ambiguous term, “even to its proponents, without clear terms and directions on how to go about it.”

The communiqué signed by the Forum’s Chairman, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, equally noted that restructuring, “is a term used by the political elite from the other regions to intimidate the north and paint it as a weak link, parasitic and unproductive region that brings nothing to the dining table.”

The communique said that the North would, at a later date, take what the senators called, “a well articulated, firm and common position,” on the issue of restructuring, in collaboration with other northern members of the National Assembly.

The communiqué said, “The north as a region is not afraid of any sensible and meaningful arrangement provided it guarantees justice, equity, fairness and the unity of all Nigerians irrespective of religion, region, age and sex, as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

The communiqué also said that the retreat discussed, “the huge infrastructural deficit” in the northern region arguing that the development has tended to weigh down on socio-economic and advancement of the area and noted, “the need to design an all-embracing Marshall plan for the development of the region.

“The insecurity of lives and property and the lack of capacity of the state to adequately guarantee the most  fundamental of rights are the most critical challenges facing the region in particular and the country in general.

“The prevalent ethno-religious crises in the northern region are politically motivated in nature and have little or nothing to do with religion.

“The alarming statistics of out-of-school children and the number of learning institutions in the northern region explains Why the region is educationally and economically backward, in addition to poor budgetary funding and bad overnance.”

The Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, had declared the retreat open, on Tuesday, with governors of Katsina, Kebbi, Borno, Sokoto in attendance along with the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, former Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Coomasie, Prof. Ango Abdullahi and Dr. Usman Bugaje, among others.