A Thinking Cap In North-Eastern Nigeria

I have covered quite a lot  of the happenings around Gombe, being a former ‘colony’ of Bauchi (pun intended). As a political analyst and the All Progressives Congress (APC) apologist, I’ve kept a keen eye on Inuwa Yahaya’s six-year tenure as Gombe State governor, especially with his designation as chairman of the Northern Governors Forum.

His approach to governance would definitely draw a lot of attention, with everyone hoping that the programmes and policies of his government would be stellar, filled with high-impact projects that would propel Gombe, over and above its sister states in the North-East. With his position and access to the President, it is assumed that he would be able to attract a lot of federal attention to his state, edging other states in terms of access to funding and grants, while also enjoying some prerogatives.

The Muhammadu Buhari Industrial Park Gombe is one of the key projects of the Inuwa Yahaya administration that has excited many, boasting of over 1,000 hectares, designed to house a number of industries such as agro-processing, manufacturing and other related services. Of the 1,000 hectares of the industrial park, 250 hectares have been dedicated to the development of an agricultural industrial cluster, according to Governor Inuwa Yahaya.

The park is equipped with a great deal of infrastructure, including roads, water, power, and notably a waste management facility to support the handling of waste materials from the industries situated in the park. The park is located at the centre of many road transportation routes like the Gombe-Biu and the Gombe-Yola roads, which would provide access to markets in neighbouring states and even across the country’s borders.

The park has already attracted a Chinese tomato processing plant and a rice mill by granting tax holidays, huge discounts on land leases, and access to funding and other forms of government support.

The vision for the industrial park has already kicked in, with the commissioning of a state-of-the-art seed processing factory/plant at the facility.

Speaking at the event, former President Olusegun Obasanjo lauded Governor Yahaya, describing the park as a noble initiative and a catalyst for sustainable economic development. Obasanjo emphasised that “seed is the most indispensable input in agriculture and if you don’t get the seed component right, the entire value chain becomes shaky.” He noted that the proximity of the park to the 40mw Dadinkowa hydro-power plant positions Gombe advantageously for industrial take-off. He also commended Premier Seed for equipping the facility with a top-tier facility capable of delivering qualitative and certified climate-smart seeds.

I am also particularly happy that the park is coming to life, having covered it in my previous articles during the early days of the Inuwa Yahaya administration.

What has really tickled my fancy is the 184-hectare Agro-development Livestock Zone in the industrial park, which will feature an International Livestock Market, a modern abattoir, an inland dry port, and an integrated agro-processing corridor. Governor Inuwa Yahaya has been able to secure N120 billion funding for the zone.

The governor announced that the government received the first tranche of N60 billion during the project’s groundbreaking ceremony. This ambitious agro-industrial zone will have a state-of-the-art abattoir, an international grains market, an international livestock market, a leather processing and tannery complex, and an inland dry port.

This is more than a massive boost for the agricultural value chain of the country, providing jobs,  boosting food security, and employing and enriching more agropreneurs. This aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda of fast-tracking economic growth.

Dr. Idi Mukhtar Maiha, the minister of Livestock Development, commended Inuwa Yahaya’s foresight and leadership qualities. He said the project is a leap in revitalising the country’s livestock value chain and considered Gombe the new powerhouse of the region. The facility is estimated to process 500 bulls, 1,000 small ruminants, and 3,000 poultry birds daily, amounting to 1.6 million animals to be processed annually.

Development is about building structures and institutions that can continually create wealth by providing jobs—productive jobs, not salary jobs. What has been lacking in our quest for democratic dividends is a suitable environment for entrepreneurship to thrive, grow, and spread across the nooks and crannies of our society.

Our leaders must find ways of investing in wealth-creation ventures, not money-draining adventures that do not yield any economic growth. The North must build economies in its states that would make them self-subsistent, less dependent on FAAC, and more dependent on internally generated revenue. FAAC is meant to be a stimulant and an incentive, not our ‘staple food’.

Governor Inuwa Yahaya has his thinking cap on and is headed in this direction. Building business environment that would be supported with uninterrupted power supply and an inland dry port is the businessman’s paradise. Investors would be lining up for Gombe, and this would herald its economic emancipation and independence.