April 7th and 8th, 2016
The nineteen northern states of Nigeria constitute 73 percent of Nigeria’s territory, nearly 60 percent of its population, currently exceeding 100 million people. In less than 34 years (2050), however, the UN predicts that the northern states will contain over 240 million, overwhelmingly youthful, residents. Comparatively, the scale of the northern dependency burden not only frames their demographic crisis, and condemns these states to remain at the bottom of Nigeria’s development indices, but the resulting regional differences generate polarizing tensions that potentially threaten the human security of all Nigerians. Besides demography, key challenges include: environmental degradation, widespread poverty, declining per capita incomes, fragile infrastructures, low education standards, endemic violence, economic stagnation, local governance failures, and rising youth unemployment. The Conference agenda confronts these daunting challenges directly by asking: How can northerners join with fellow Nigerians to mobilize their natural, organizational, financial, and human resources so as to recruit productive investments in employment-generating industries? True, productive investments are the key to employment. But increasing industrial productivity invariably requires the reallocation and concentration of scarce resources like capital, land and water. Conference participants, therefore are committed to pursuing realistic and candid conversations about how new public-private collaborations will deliver employment and dignified livelihoods to northern youth. This event is merely the first of many conversations about these policy issues, so our goal is to encourage more soon.
Conference participants engaged in these topical questions about investment and employment:
- What are the Obstacles to Productive Investment from the Perspective of Investors?
- What Incentives will Increase Investments in Employment-Generating Industries?
- How Can States Bring Electric Power and New Infrastructures to Ignite New Industries?
- What is the Role of Collaborative Economic Governance Institutions in the Northern States?
- How Can States Promote Productive Agro-Industrial Linkages and Industrial Clusters?
- What Policies Will Promote Industrial Recovery in the North East States?
- How Can Educational Institutions and Civil Society Prepare Youths for Employment?
Participants include:
Paul Lubeck, JHU-SAIS
Hafiz Abubakar, Hon. Deputy Governor/Commissioner of Education Science and
Technology, Kano State
Ahmed Aliyu Ahmad, ERE-SAIS
Aisha M Bello, Hon. Commissioner for Planning and Budget, Kano State
Ambassador John Campbell, Council on Foreign Relations
Representative, The Dangote Group
Amal Hassan, MD/CEO, OutSource.ng
Attahiru Jega, Bayero University and George Mason University
Hannah Kabir, CEO, CreedsEnergy
Darren Kew, University of Massachusetts-Boston
A . B. Mahmoud, Dikko and Mahmoud, Kano
Kate Meagher, London School of Economics
Ernest Ogbozor, George Mason University
John Paden, George Mason University
Matthew Page, Council on Foreign Relations
Muhammad Sagagi, DFID, Kano State
Murtala Sagagi, Bayero University Kano
Ali Shettima, Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation
Kole Shettima, MacArthur Foundation
Navdeep Sodhi, Afroconsulting.com
Kate Steel, USAID, Power Africa
Volker Treichel, The World Bank
Y.Z. Ya’u, Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD)
Conference PowerPoint Presentations (selected, in agenda order):
Volker Treichel, The World Bank: “Learning Global Production Networks: Implications for Northern Nigeria”
Muhammad Sagagi, DFID, Kano State: “Finding the Right Balance Between Facilitating Investment and Public Policy”
Mansur Ahmed, The Dangote Group: “Catalysing Investment in Northern Nigeria”
Hannah Kabir, CreedsEnergy: “Solar Energy for Sustainable Economic Reconstruction”
Paul Lubeck, JHU-SAIS: “State Industrial Development Agencies and the Coordination Function”
Aisha Bello, Kano State Government: “Budgeting for Industry and Employment in Kano”
Kate Meagher, LSE: “Rethinking Linkages in Northern Nigeria”
Hafiz Abubakar, Kano State Government: “Entrepreneurship, Education, and SMEs: Correlates of Youth Empowerment”
Muhammad Sagagi, DFID: “MAFITA: Education as Promoting Marketable Skills”
Y.Z. Ya’u, CITAD: “The Value of Civil Society Groups for Upgrading Digital Employment Skills”
Amal Hassan, OutSource.ng: “Call Centers as Incubators of the ICT Industry in Northern States”
Navdeep Sodhi, Afroconsulting.com: “Export Incentives to Boost Nigeria’s Agro-Allied Sector”
Y.Z. Yau, CITAD: “Fostering Digital Employment: ‘Kannywood’, GSM Repairers, and SMEs”