The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has expressed concern over what it described as unequal land ownership rights across Nigeria.
It lamented that while southerners freely acquire land and property in the North, northerners are often denied the same opportunity in the southern part of the country.
Speaking during a meeting of the ACF Board of Trustees in Kaduna, the forum’s BOT chairman, Alhaji Bashir Dalhatu, called for urgent land ownership reform across the 19 northern states to protect indigenous interests and prevent foreign takeover.
“It is deeply regrettable that southerners have refused to reciprocate the noble gesture by the North. In fact, in many parts of the South, especially in the Southeast, a northerner cannot expect to acquire one square foot of land, not to speak of owning any significant landed property,”; Dalhatu said.
He noted that the North has for centuries opened its doors to Nigerians from all regions, offering them hospitality and land ownership rights, yet this goodwill has not been matched.
“We must ensure that northerners do not become landless in their own territory,”; he warned, urging northern governors and legislators to carry out a comprehensive reform of land ownership and control.
Dalhatu also raised alarm over a “mad scramble for land in the North by foreigners,”; adding that this development requires immediate action to protect regional sovereignty.
“These negative developments have prompted a growing disenchantment and disillusionment amongst northerners against the federation of Nigeria,”; he said.
“Some in the North now openly question the rationale or justification for remaining in the union.”;
The ACF further alleged that northerners face maltreatment and attacks in the South, even when simply passing through.
“Even innocent northerners on journeys through southern states get killed or subjected to inhumane treatment, a tragedy which, unfortunately, successive administrations in this country have failed to stop,”; Dalhatu lamented.
He called on the federal government to address what the forum sees as growing marginalisation and to revisit laws governing land and unity in the country.
