The Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, has expressed concern over the deep-rooted environmental, political, and security challenges affecting the prosperity and peace of the Sahel region.
Abubakar stated this in Abuja on Thursday at the 1st News Agency of Nigeria International Lecture, themed, “Insecurity in the Sahel, 2008 to 2024: Dissecting Nigeria’s Challenges – Genesis, Impacts and Options.”
Represented by the Emir of Gumi, retired Justice Lawal Hassan, the Sultan noted that the Sahel region is blessed with abundant human resources, offering tremendous potential for rapid economic growth.
He described the Sahel as the vast semi-arid region of Africa, separating the Sahara Desert in the north from the tropical savannah to the south, representing a land of opportunities and challenges.
“With its abundant mineral resources like lithium, cobalt, and uranium, among many others, the Sahel could be described as one of the richest parts of the globe.
“It is expected to be home to 1.5 billion people by the year 2050 and has one of the largest and youngest populations in the world.
“However, despite its abundant human and natural resources, which offer tremendous potential for rapid economic growth, there are deep-rooted challenges—environmental, political, and security—that are affecting the prosperity and peace of the Sahel,” he said.
Abubakar mentioned that to address some of these challenges, the United Nations (UN) has developed a unique support plan targeting 10 countries to accelerate prosperity and sustainable peace in the region.
He identified the 10 countries as: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, The Gambia, Haiti, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Senegal.
The Sultan explained that the support plan focuses on six priority areas: cross-border cooperation, prevention and sustainable peace, peace-to-growth, climate action, and renewable energy.
Peoplesmind