Governors of Nigeria’s Northwest region have met with senior United Nations officials and representatives of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abuja to advance development initiatives aimed at improving social services and economic growth in the region.

Speaking after the meeting, Chairman of the Northwest Governors’ Forum and Governor of Katsina State, Dikko Umaru Radda, said the discussions centered on impactful interventions in social protection, education, food security, and climate adaptation.

Governors Uba Sani (Kaduna), Dauda Lawal (Zamfara), Ahmed Aliyu (Sokoto), and Umar Namadi (Jigawa) were also in attendance.

The forum received briefings from UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed and UN Resident Coordinator Malick Fall on progress with various programmes and ways to strengthen regional collaboration.

Governor Radda revealed that discussions with the AfDB focused on the Nigeria Agricultural Growth Scheme (NAG 2.0), which targets agricultural development and value chain enhancement in Northwestern states.

“We are on the eve of implementing this programme, which will drive agricultural development and enhance value chains in the region,” he stated.

The governors also explored the second phase of the Special Agro-Processing Zones (SAPZ) initiative, which will now extend to all five Northwest states, having initially included only Kaduna and Kano states.

Additionally, talks covered renewable energy solutions through the Infrastructure Resilience Support (IRS) programme, particularly solar and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiatives.

The forum also expressed interest in accessing resources from the Nigeria Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) to improve education in the region.

Governor Radda noted that each state governor has designated a focal person to coordinate development partner programmes, with a unified focus on tackling issues such as poverty alleviation, youth employment, and the out-of-school children crisis.

“We have unanimously agreed to work together on economic development, agriculture, tackling out-of-school children, poverty alleviation, and youth employment,” he said.