When fully taken off, it will mean millions of jobs generated, developing the region's vast agriculture and mining resources.The North will definitely generate more than the money to invest in the expansion and upgrading of the region's decaying infrastructure, including its road networks, power and water supply. This will also mean tapping its vastly scenic tourist wealth. But to get it right going forward, some difficult novel steps need to be taken. There is the need to quickly establish a regional 'Policy Think Tank Group,' with full mandate to articulate policy priorities that will best serve the region's economic competitiveness, build its core strengths, as well as develop additional advantages compatible with the region's expansive development needs. Also in focusing regional policy on addressing job-creating problem, it will necessitate establishing the much discussed Northern Nigeria Development Bank and Northern Nigerian Chambers of Commerce. The reemergence of the North's competitiveness will also require building critical and determinant social economic mass which will require creating a pool of skills and capital. For reasons of synergy and economies of scale, the North should establish a Northern University of Technology, which should be a pacesetting academic and research center of excellence with the goal of attracting gifted scholars, scientists, researchers, and students alongside attracting leading knowledge-based companies. It also means the need for Northern Nigerian five-star hotel and hospital chains, a Northern Nigerian Airline, a Northern Nigerian Power Company, a Northern Nigerian Engineering and Construction Company, a Northern Nigerian Technology City like the Silicon Valley, an Entrepreneurs Bank of the North, Farmers' Banks of the North, etc. There is no doubt that creating such a viable regional economy is going to be daunting. It is daunting given the inherent difficulty in assets mapping as well as in truly identifying the right combination of competitive advantage. Daunting, it will definitely be as a result of the dearth of the right analytical tools and insights into a region's comparative advantage. And above all, it is going to be daunting when it comes to prioritising the region's public investments in the light of competing interests. But with determined group of stakeholders, working assiduously on the basis of long-term regional benefits, aligning divergent stakeholder interests wouldn't be all that insurmountable. Certainly, for a common regional policy to blossom, it should be shaped by the overarching need for regional policy, governance, innovation, and entrepreneurship templates. Thus, crafting an effective regional policy template will require regional leaders having the best diagnosis of the region's present and future competitive goals. Since entrepreneurship should be a priority for such regional development efforts, regional support networks and incentives for the formation of new equity funds should be given the highest regional attention. It also means that going forward, the regional economy will be forced to constantly create new values in national and international markets, exploiting its regional strengths. What all these changes will translate to is the turning point for Nigeria's true Federalism. It all means that the federal government should henceforth focus on what it is supposed to be doing: Providing security, ensuring credible and realistic monetary policy, economic stimulus packages whenever interregional interactions call for them. It should henceforth provide support development infrastructure, in addition to actively promoting healthy competitive environment beneficial to all the regional economies.
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