Nearly seven years have passed since the Northeast Governors Forum was born with so much hope. Eleven meetings down, and the twelfth is already around the corner. But ask the ordinary man in Damaturu, the struggling farmers in Gombe, the widows in Borno, what has truly changed in their lives as a result of these endless gatherings?
The answer is bitter: nothing.
One glaring example is the Kolmani Oil Drill. Former President Muhammadu Buhari launched it with hope. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised it would be sustained. But today, the project lies stagnant, no rigs turning, no refineries rising, no jobs created.
Where is the Forum in all of this? What pressure have our Governors mounted to lobby the Presidency? What strategies have they drawn to fast-track the project that could change the destiny of the entire subregion?
Silence.
Instead of bold solutions, we have been fed with communiqués that gather dust. Instead of landmark projects, we have been shown colorful uniforms and staged photographs. The problems of insecurity, unemployment, poverty and poor infrastructure remain where they were, if not worse.
The truth stings, but it must be spoken: the Forum has become a theatre of promises without delivery. From lofty ideas like a regional airline to dreams of integrated development, everything has ended as mere words. No airport terminal, no engine, not even a single block laid to symbolize a united front for progress.
Our people are not looking for photo-ops; they are yearning for action. They want roads that connect markets, schools that inspire learning, hospitals that save lives, and security that restores dignity. They want leaders who act as statesmen, not as event managers.
The time has come for the Governors of the Northeast to look in the mirror and answer a hard question: is this Forum a driver of real development or just a club of convenience?
History is impatient. It will not remember the fabrics they wore in Bauchi or the banquets in Maiduguri. It will only remember whether they left a legacy of progress or an echo of failure.
Enough of the empty promises. The Northeast deserves better.
The Northeast is bleeding, yet it is also blessed. Blessed with oil, with fertile land, with resilient people. What it lacks is leaders with the courage to turn promises into reality. The Forum must choose to become a platform of action, or to be remembered as a gathering of failures.
The choice is theirs. But the judgement will be history’s.
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