The Northern Governors Forum (NGF) on Saturday congratulated the new Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Chief Audu Ogbeh.
Ogbeh was a Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2015 to 2019.
Chairman of the forum and Governor of Plateau, Simon Lalong , who gave the forum’s message of congratulation in a statement through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr Makut Macham, urged Ogbeh to work in synergy with NGF in addressing the challenges of the North .
Lalong expressed satisfaction with the transition process of the new ACF leadership and was confident that the newly-elected officials would discharge their duties diligently.
” The Arewa Consultative Forum as a Northern socio-cultural pressure group, has played both intervention and reconciliatory roles in addressing many issues affecting the region and the country by advancing solutions and advice to relevant authorities,” he said.
Lalong pointed out that NGF synergy with ACF would be significant in addressing critical issues confronting the region such as insecurity, poverty, illiteracy and the Almajiri (Beggars) phenomenon.
He appealed to ACF to deploy its members in reconciling various communities in the north and the nation, to ensure peace, harmony and tolerance, which were critical in fast tracking development.
He charged the new chairman and other officials of the forum who were recently elected, to put the interests of the people above personal considerations in piloting the affairs of the group, stressing that the unity of the north was paramount and required all stakeholders to enforce it.
Other leaders elected were chairman, Board of Trustees, Ambassador Shehu Malami, and Secretary General of the forum, Malam Murtala Aliyu, a former Minister of State for Power and Steel, among others.
