Date: 2016-10-20

When I arrived at the entrance of the United States Institute of Peace a short while ago, I recalled the last time I was here in March 2014, when the Institute organized a security symposium for members of our forum.

Since my last visit here, I can point to many benefits that my primary constituents - the people of Borno State - have derived, since they sponsored my trip here. The 2014 symposium was dominated by issues of security and the Boko Haram insurgency, of which Borno State was the epicenter.

The discussions we had then must have contributed in many different ways to the commitment and responses of the United States Government and the international community in helping Nigeria to fight the insurgency. Our visit here in 2014 proved to be highly beneficial in the fight against Boko Haram, which affected Borno State the most but also had a destabilizing effect on nearly every other state in Northern Nigeria and the country at large.

Soon after that symposium, the United States Government increased humanitarian and development support for Borno State through the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. But then, my visit today for the 2016 symposium is not just about Borno State. My colleagues and I are here to seek benefits that should accrue to all the 19 Northern States of Nigeria. We look forward to many more benefits that will accrue to our region after this important symposium.

Ongoing economic recession in Nigeria has made life very challenging for our citizens but the Federal and state governments are tackling it in many different ways. As you would shortly see in a 14-minute documentary, the North of Nigeria is grappling with all kinds of problems.

Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, by the time we wake up tomorrow, print, online and broadcast media houses in Nigeria would have screaming headlines, that "Ten Northern Governors storm Washington" in the midst of economic recession, when our national currency, the Naira, has sharply depreciated against the U.S Dollar. Majority of our citizens will quickly conclude that we are here on a jamboree. Well, leadership isn't only about popular decisions; leadership is about doing what is right at a time that is right.

Our visit to Washington is an opportunity to re-engage with our American partners on the most vital issues that can help us to quickly make transition from volatility to a phase of peace and development in the Northern States of Nigeria. Over the past few years, we have realized that the indices of development in our region have not only been some of the most damning in our country, they have also been the background against which the problems in our region have manifested. These range from the deepening problems of Boko Haram, rural banditry, spontaneous religious and inter-tribal violence, deadly clashes between pastoralists and farmers, cattle rustling as well as the Mother of them all, which is pervasive poverty that gives birth to the many forms of crime. The emergence or the re-surfacing of insurgencies are not episodic events. They manifest through lingering processes which eventually symptomatized into aprons like Boko Haram and ISIS.

We have the greatest respect and admiration for the American Government and we hold the United States Institute of Peace in very high esteem due to its track record. It is for these reasons that even though we anticipate criticism at home for this visit, we came here with high expectations. We believe that our hosts, USIP and officials of the U.S Government will work with us with the utmost sincerity of purpose to guarantee quick benefits that will improve the living conditions of our people. As Governors of the 19 Northern States, we hope to secure tangible benefits that we can point to our people as proof, that our visit here is not a jamboree as they would assume.

We in the Northern States Governors Forum recognize that our partnership with USIP is strategic. Some of the benefits we derive from this partnership include deepening cooperation towards eliminating conflicts. We may not be able to point this benefit tangibly to our people but we know for instance, that the United States is the world's pre-eminent agricultural power and the number one food exporter. On the other hand, no land in the world is better suited for agricultural cooperation than Northern Nigeria.

Your highly adored and respected first lady Mrs. Michelle Obama has a program for intervention on girl-child education in Africa. We eagerly look forward to benefit from this program as well as many other areas in which we can partner with our American friends to tackle our under-development and weak infrastructure. What is needed is the will and I can assure you that all the Governors of the Northern States here and those at home are irrevocably committed to these partnerships in the service of our people.

The Northern Nigeria provides a good eco-system for all developments and development partners. What we need is sincere will from our development partners and I am sure that our development partners have the will.

Finally, on behalf of my colleagues, let me express our profound gratitude to the American Government, to the Board and officials of the United States Institute of Peace, to the United States Agency for International Development, to the European Union and to all partners who have stood in solidarity with us through development support in different parts of Northern Nigeria. We are also grateful to USIP for organizing this symposium that once again, brings the underdevelopment in Northern Nigeria to the front burner of discussion. But even as we discuss, we cannot ignore the fact that the outcome of the U.S election in 21 days to come, may affect the full implementation of our goals after this symposium.

Favorably, our country is not as close as Mexico for us to be worry about a wall that could come between our forum and the United States after January 20th.

Ladies and gentlemen, what works in today's world is coming together with sincerity because like the American Henry Ford said, COMING TOGETHER IS A BEGINNING, KEEPING TOGETHER IS PROGRESS AND WORKING TOGETHER IS SUCCESS.

We look forward to successful partnerships. Thank you very much and I wish all of us a fruitful and very beneficial symposium.

Shettima, Governor of Borno State and Chairman of Northern States Governors' Forum, delivered these remarks on Tuesday, October 18, 2016, at the opening of a 3-day symposium for Northern Governors in Nigeria organized by the U.S Government hosted by the United States Institute of Peace in Washington that was attended by Governors of Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Zamfara, Adamawa, Bauchi, Kwara, Niger, Borno and Deputy Governor of Kano State.