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Building trusting relationships among key players that
spur the movement of ideas into action in an agile
manner for the Arewa region.
ECONOMIC GARDENING APPROACH:
Economic Gardening is the Best
Practice standard for an entrepreneurial approach to economic development.
The program focuses on supporting local businesses with strategic
information and frameworks to grow locally. It provides strategic research
and frameworks to help local companies scale up, adding jobs and wealth to
the community. It’s team specialists in the use of sophisticated corporate
tools like database research, search engine optimization, geographic
information systems, physical market research and listening posts to find
new markets, provide competitive advantage, intelligence and industry
trends, assess digital marketing efforts and find qualified sales leads. We
firmly believe that as various diverse and talented people begin to work
together and interact and talk and improvise their way towards the goal of
sustainable Arewa economically, they're going to learn from each other and
be more willing to share with each other. They will end up not only
benefiting their chosen community, but they will grow their own businesses
and as people, more prosperous; and that is multiple wins!
Implement Programs that Build on Regional Opportunities
Introducing innovative programs that complement and add
value to all States within the Arewa region’s industry
and occupational clusters.
Strengthen Arewa Regional Collaboration and Innovation Networks
The mainstay of the ACRD Center of Excellence’s
collaboration work centers on its Strategic Doing
initiative. This program will focus on the use of States
within the regional networks to accelerate innovation,
partnership and collaboration.
 Strategic
Doing quickly develops sophisticated collaborations that
help advance open innovation across organizational and
political boundaries within the entire region. Strategic
Doing ignites the spark of regional innovation,
partnership and collaboration enabling people in
loosely-joined, open networks to think and act
strategically. In partnership with Small Business
Development Center’s across the World, this program
showcases the pivotal role of second-stage firms to
employment growth and prosperity and development growth
strategies, with the goal of making Arewa region an
investment destination.
Building Capacity of Local and State Governments to effectively Address
Economic and Environmental issues. The mainstay of the ACRD environmental
considerations in the overall policy-making, planning, and development
process at local and regional level are:
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Building capacity of local and States governments within the region to
effectively address specific environmental issues, concerns, and
strategic measures in areas like agriculture, transport, waste
management, and freshwater availability that have significant relevance
and implications in the context of sustainable regional development;
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Responding to emerging issues of concern, such as climate change and
human health impacts; and
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Fostering community-based natural resource/environment management to
achieve the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
ICT is the convergence of communications, computing and
information technologies and has become the catalyst
that enhances development process of a nation...READ
ON
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AREWA ECONOMIC
GARDENING
For many years, States, local and
community leaders’ primary approach to growing their local
economy has been through industrial attraction, looking for a
large employer that wanted to move to their community. Some
cities, local towns, and regions have begun to realize that
apart of attracting foreign direct investments (FDIs) there are
other strategies to grow their economy - helping their existing
businesses grow.
In some world communities this
approach has become known as economic gardening, an
entrepreneurial approach to economic development that was
created in Littleton, Colorado, in 1987. It assumes that an
economy can be grown from the inside, when local companies grow.
To help companies grow, the community provides sophisticated
information and services that improve the natural
entrepreneurial process.
ACRD will develop Arewa Regional Decision Maker (RDM)
data-driven platform and lead an economic development partners
in Arewa region to learn from and adapt the Littleton, Colorado,
program to “second-stage” companies. These second-stage
companies are defined as follows:
-
being a
for-profit, privately held business;
-
employing
at least 10 but not more than 100
people;
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maintaining its principal place of
business in Arewa for at least the
previous two years;
-
generating
at least N100 million in annual revenue;
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Develop
Cutting-Edge Online Data Tools
The Center is focusing on
developing its Regional Decision Maker (RDM) data-driven
platform. RDM will be designed to help
 Arewa
identify regional innovation, entrepreneurship and
commercialization opportunities. ACRD is working in partnership
to develop this dynamic and powerful decision-making tool. Plans
are underway to develop map layers that will show geographic
clustering for industry and occupation clusters via the use of
spatial statistical techniques. When fully launched, RDM will
provide a set of value-added data layers and customized tools
for use in supporting the entire Arewa regional planning.
Engage Key Target Groups in Using and Refining RDM Tools
RDM represents a powerful tool for mapping regional assets and
opportunities. But, ensuring that these tools are seen as a
valuable, practical and user-friendly tool for guiding
decision-making by State leaders in northern region is equally
important. As such, the ACRD is seeking to enhance the skills of
individuals and groups that want to utilize the RDM.
Produce a Comprehensive Arewa Region Economic Profile and
Other Informational Resources
To maximize the value of the RDM to a wider array of people and
organizations, ACRD will
develop a series of user-friendly Economic Profiles that offer
Arewa region attractive document that can guide the region's
economic development plans and activities. In this regard, our
Center will partner both States and Local Government to develop
Information Briefs that are intended to provide local economic
development outlook, timely information on a variety of local
and State demographic, socioeconomic, education, economic and
workforce development. The briefs will be couple of flyer-pages
to include visually effective graphs, charts and/or tables, and
be written for lay audiences. ACRD will create peer group
regional development program to be called Leading Edge Practices
(LEEP), a navigational tool designed to assist States in the
region in learning from one another, leading to new strategies
for accelerating innovation and collaboration.
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Restructuring
is good for the North because
the North has so many Potentials of
Solid Mineral Exploration, so great
that by the time the northern
Governors realize it they will
almost forget about allocation funds
coming from Federal Government and
too much Taxes on its citizens to
generate more internally generated
revenue (IGR). The potential is
great and better than crude oil of
the south. Gold, Uranium, Iron Ore,
Gemstones, Columbite, Tantalite,
Kaolin, Goshenite and other precious
minerals are everywhere across the
north, but also Lithium Brine Rocks,
lithium-bearing pegmatite and
spodumene, a critical component for
making electric car batteries. By
2030, oil will no longer be that
important as electric cars will take
over, lithium batteries will also be
used for powerhouses and so much
more. The potentials for export of
these natural minerals and local use
in manufacturing from the north are
unparalleled. The Southerners are
just beginning to realize the
potentials and if we begin to
explore them, what it will mean to
their so-called oil; and clamour for
Restructuring. That is why some of
them are beginning to downplay the
issue of restructuring now: every
region to control its resources, but
the north must insist on
Restructuring Now. Because the
southerners erroneously believe that
northerners are backward and
uneducated and think that the north
is dependent on the south simply
because they have oil while
forgetting that the south depends on
the north for its staple foods. 80%
of food consumed in the south, apart
from cassava comes from the north:
rice, beans, maize, guinea corn,
yam, wheat, tomatoes, onions,
pepper, spices and meat: cow, goat,
and donkeys, etc. Nigeria plans to
spend 15 billion naira, about $42
million over the next year or so to
explore minerals and attract
investors into mining and reduce its
dependence on oil. Also, the north
has oil too but abundant of natural
resources: solid minerals. The North
must get its act right and the
future will be much brighter, more
prosperous and better. The teaming
Youths will have ample jobs and
things to do; and for every mining
job, 4 more jobs will be created and
the north will virtually have
near-zero-unemployment.
The
northern demographic shifts will
fuel the growth of new sectors,
markets and service lines. They will
begin to innovate and with
creativity build viable businesses
in areas of the business supply
chain, and in agriculture, livestock
mainstreaming, no more transporting
live animals to the south but
slaughtered and freight in
refrigerated trucks, renewable
energy like solar farming, ICT,
Business Processing Outsourcing and
in healthcare, manufacturing and
revitalize the Kannywood
entertainment industry in
partnership with Indian Bollywood.
Staple food commodity would no
longer be transported to the south
but buying-zones can be created
along the borderlines between north
and south for southerners to come
and purchase there. “Wallahi it is a
matter of time and the time is very
soon, it has already begun. The
unity of northern diversity is the
power that will propel the business
communities and consequently, the
northern upcoming industries into
new dimensions of performance. Soon
there will be on the horizon, more
northern banks, northern media and
corporations; and northern
intelligentsia that will meet every
contemporary challenge; build
capacity and human capital
knowledge-pool; and the end of
youths banditry, kidnappings,
communal crises, terrorism and
religious violence because everyone
will have work and meaningful things
to do under strong, compassionate
leadership, propelling the country
to a Greater Height as a whole. ICT-enabled
solutions in healthcare,
agriculture, education, financial
services and States-public services
will drive socio-economic inclusion
of everyone in the region and the
country faster, cheaper and more
efficient than traditional methods.
Indeed, the North; and Nigeria will
be Great Again. The PAN-Niger Delta
Forum said that the news that
Northern leaders, who identified
themselves as Friends of Democracy,
advocated a return to the 12-state
federal structure of 1967 and 100
percent resource control was
thought-provoking but calls for
restraint and further
cross-questioning. The Pan-Yoruba
socio-political organization,
Afenifere, said it agrees with most
of the views of the northern leaders
and hoped to inter-face with them
later, but said for a group of
northerners to now be advocating for
100 percent resource control, calls
for caution and further
interrogation.
The question been are asked is that
who will suffer if Nigeria is
restructured or in the event of a
break-up of the country in terms of
food security or development?...
READ THE WHOLE INTERVIEW |
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“Given the emergence of
new regional dynamics in development policy and
practice, Arewa region MUST fine-tune current regional
development perspectives and
to develop new ones that are not only more in sync with
the present and future global context but with the
governance systems being currently adopted that are
becoming more and more decentralized and grassroots
oriented. States Governors within the Arewa region must
come together to create and adopt the Arewa Regional
Economic Plan with emphasis on a balanced approach to
development and opportunity for all diversity
irrespective of one’s tribe, social class, religious
belief and even political affiliation; and establish
targets for economic growth of the entire region taking
advantage of our Demographic Shifts, which will fuel the
growth of new sectors, markets, and service lines in our
communities. The ability of our diversity to build
strength and unity is the power that will propel the
region and consequently, the Nigerian industry, into new
dimensions of performance and inclusive growth.
Catalyzing Inclusive Growth Through ICT-enabled
solutions in healthcare, education, financial services
and public services can drive socio-economic development
and inclusion of more than 30 million citizens each
year, faster, cheaper and more effectively than
traditional models. The economic plan should be built on
current regional opportunities, collaboration and
innovation linking States macroeconomic models with
regional development and economic plan termed: Regional
Econometric Model”…President
ACRD
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