The North West Governors Forum in collaboration with Arewa Research and Development Project (ARDP) have worked out modalities to expedite development in the zone.

Already, the partnership has led to the development of a new document, Strategic Agenda For Northern Development (STAND).

The convener of ARDP, Dr Usman Bugaje who disclosed this, in Kastina, during a two day workshop for commissioners, perm secs and key officials from Ministry of Agriculture in the seven North-West states said the STAND document was being expanded into a plan of action.

Bugaje listed six areas of focus to include agriculture, energy, solid minerals, education, environment and industries noting that “this workshop is focusing on the agric component of the plan”.

“We have agreed to come together and focus on these key areas so as to develop a detailed action plan from start to finish” Bugaje said adding that “the report will be submitted to the governors who will direct their respective ministries to act”.

Continuing, Bugaje said, “We have identified source of funding from both the public and private sector and we have also identified the bottlenecks and solutions to all the bottlenecks have been found”.

According to Bugaje, no fewer than 500,000 jobs would be created across the zone through dutiful implementation of the action plan.

Our correspondent reports that the meeting was targeted at generating in-puts for the development of agriculture in the North-west zone on the basis of comparative advantage of each states.