Throughout history, great people have been known to shape the trajectory of society by the power of their decisions and will of action. These great people usually transcend time, shaping the future in the light of the present.
The Inuwa Yahaya-led administration, by the action of great minds, has been able to touch the lives of citizens through projects and programs in education, healthcare, agriculture, investment, infrastructural development, among other strides in many sectors. One such great personality who has contributed to the administration is Alhaji Ahmed Shuaibu Gara Gombe.
As Special Adviser on Strategy and Information Management to the Executive Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Ahmed Shuaibu Gara Gombe‘s exceptionality as a public servant is evident looking at the achievements he has been able to record within the shortest period in his office. The achievements are as follows, but not limited to;
Firstly, mitigating the deficits in public communication by reinforcing existing information management structure.
Integrating emerging social media: He integrated the social media team of the governor into a reliable information system by providing synergy between the press and new media groups.
Developing reactive, proactive and preemptive measures: He developed proactive measures in information dissemination and communication through such platforms as situation room where information can be tracked and relayed to the public.
Gombe State Media Practitioners‘ Cooperatives: He initiated and facilitated the establishment and registration of the Gombe State Media Practitioners Cooperative Society to promote welfare of journalists and members of the press.
Establishing a call-in program named „H.E Direct: To promote citizens‘ participation in government, he came up with the idea of establishing a call in program in both Hausa and English to enhance public and grassroots engagement in governance by allowing complaints, suggestions and recommendations from the general public.
„Dani aka je“ program: To track Governor Inuwa Yahaya‘s campaign promises for ease of accountability during the second tenure, the special adviser initiated a programme tagged „Dani Aka je on the radio where people will be expressing themselves on the government pledged projects and the impacts of those executed in their communities.
Facilitated provision of vehicles to journalists: He is one of those who facilitated the donation of buses for Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Gombe State Chapter and Correspondents‘ Chapel by the governor as well as promoting general welfare of the members of the press.
There is no gainsaying the fact that Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State is among the best performing governors in Nigeria. Yes, Inuwa has done well and has achieved a lot in his first year in office. The only problem the governor had was lack of adequate publicity and underreporting of his activities.
Well, the media will not be blamed for the situation as they only diseminate the information made available to them or at their disposal. It is the duty of government to blow its trumpet by informing the public about its stewardship. Many people only acknowledge what were done in their own domains and do not know much of what were done in another places. Thus, government‘s officials especially information managers or spokespersons of the government are duty bound to communicate and showcase its activities for the citizens have right to know how their leaders govern them and or spend their funds.
Perhaps having realized that he is underreported, Governor Inuwa Yahaya appointed a special adviser on information management and strategy in the person of Ahmed Shuaibu Gara-Gombe to help him in the management of information and public relations in addition to other existing media aides.
Of course, no government or organization will have a good image in the eyes of the public without having a competent information manager and public relations officer. Since the appointment of Gara as special adviser on information management, he swung into action by bringing the numerous achievements of the Inuwa Yahaya administration to limelight.
The present governor of Gombe State Inuwa Yahaya is an outstanding governor. In fact, he can be rated better than some of his contemporaries in the north considering the meagre resources received by his state as federal grants and the mega projects he executed in the last tenure.
Most of these gigantic projects by Governor Inuwa were not adequately publicized. And this is the gap Gara Gombe is trying to bridge now as a person saddled with the responsibility of managing government‘s information.
He is determined to achieve that by making use of the available airtime or space in Radio, Television and other media houses within and outside the state. He gathered that many of those television and radio stations have airtime for discussion programs including political which are unutilized or underutilized due to lack of vocal government officials to make good use of them or just lack of knowing how important it is for the government to feed the electorates back on its stewardship in a democratic setting.
Within the past couple of months, the special adviser had visited and granted interviews in 17 radio and television stations locally and nationally including;
NTA Gombe, Progress Radio, Amana Radio, Vision FM, Jewel FM, GMC and GTV.
Others are FRCN Headquarters, Channels TV, AIT, Trust TV, Leadership TV and major newspapers like Daily Trust, Leadership, Premium Times and News Agency of Nigeria.
Furthermore, he initiated the Gombe New Media Internship Programme where the interns will be promoting government programmes on social media.
With these initiatives, Inuwa‘s silent achievements are now topics of discourse courtesy of the special adviser on information and strategy. Media houses are now bringing Governor Inuwa Yahaya‘s hitherto obscure projects to limelight beyond the routine news programmes as part of initiatives by Gara.
I am happy that the public both within and outside Gombe are now hearing the good side of Gombe and the works of this prudent, patriotic and performing governor Inuwa Yahaya. While applauding Gara Gombe for the feats, I encourage him to sustain the tempo.
The Special Adviser on Strategy and Information to the governor of Gombe State has indeed proven to be a leader who discharges his responsibility well.
Aside from his sector, he has shown understanding of other sectors pertaining to human development and made significant contributions.
While wishing the Governor Inuwa Yahaya administration a more successful second tenure, it is the hope of the good people of Gombe State that experienced minds like Ahmed Shuaibu Gara Gombe will be given another chance to contribute to the development index of the state.
– Aliyu Danladi writes from Gombe
