As the siren serenaded Bauchi road after an initial echo from Gombe State Government House, the head of the government agency I was having meeting with halted the conversation momentarily and tilted the subject matter to Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, his leader.
He told his top management staff who were part of the meeting that, that is the Governor traveling out. “I am sure by the time he returns, he will come back with fresh ideas to be implemented for the development of Gombe State. That is why we must deliver on this assignment otherwise he will bring in a better idea than what we have and ours may not be relevant again”, he said emphatically.
That is vintage Inuwa Yahaya for you. The Gombe State Governor is a man whose life is enmeshed in innovation and ascending creativity. He is never afraid to fail, but almost always, he succeeds at virtually every endeavor he embarks upon.
As friends, family, colleagues and associates gather around Inuwa Yahaya’s celebration table in joyful appreciation of his hard-fought and robustly deserved victory for a second term in office, it is pertinent to look beyond the euphoric mood of victory into the large picture of what his second chance at governance portends for the Jewel in the Savannah as Gombe State is fondly called.
As it is often said, that the morning defines the night, an encyclopedic view of the foundations laid by Inuwa Yahaya’s first term in office, albeit one month to end, is really very encouraging.
here are clear barometric pointers to a greater Gombe from all developmental indices. A friend told me openly that had it been that the Gombe State people rejected Inuwa Yahaya at this election, they would have clearly dug a grave for two decades of retrogression. He is happy that they returned him as their choice Governor.
For any state to develop there must be a master plan for development. This master plan for the industrial transmogrification of Gombe State was non-existent. A rudderless ship is bound for a nondescript destination. This was clear to Inuwa Yahaya at the inception of his first tenure where he met a debilitating state of indebtedness coupled with lots of abandoned projects and a people greatly disillusioned and disunited.
He started with a 10-Year Development Plan – DEVAGOM in which he dissected the entire potentials of Gombe State and posited an optimal deployment of the same for the socio-economic development of the State. This 10-Development Plan came handy with timelines and clear milestones to be attained. Like a ship with a sound minded captain, Inuwa Yahaya charted a smooth course for the economic and industrial revolution of Gombe, a state he was born, nurtured and cultured into an enigmatic personality he has become today.
Inuwa knows convincingly that infrastructure drives development. He therefore was determined to take Gombe State out of infrastructural decadence. He has given credence to intelligent application of lean resources to producing a brilliant showing in socio-economic enhancement of the State.
ombe State has an uncommon road network today, a model already being replicated by some other states in Nigeria. Inuwa Yahaya’s administration came up with a unique road construction program tagged Network Eleven-100.This is the construction of a hundred kilometers roads in all the 11 local governments that made up Gombe State. With this superb initiative, movement of goods and people became seamlessly easy and productivity is greatly enhanced.
I am not sure of what Inuwa has done to power supply, but is it amply supplied and in enough hours daily for production endeavors to thrive. Most times there is electricity in Gombe.
When you have good road network and good roads, the state is set fully for business.
If the State is set for business and the people are not friendly or logjams are here and there for business men,there is bound to be retardation of progress.Inuwa Yahaya has brought his renown private sector enterprising acumen to bear on governance of Gombe State.
He has revolutionized the civil service. He has instituted a tech-driven civil service.
The result of this has won the State a record back to back winning of the Best State in the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria, 2022 and 2023.
Cleverly, after winning the first Best State in the Ease of Doing Business, Inuwa Yahaya organized GOINVEST, the first ever investment summit in the history of the State.
It brought in a number of local and international investors. He also initiated one thousand hectares Industrial Park located in Dadinkowa.
The Park is an amalgamation of closely related industries in one spot for the benefit of economy of scale.
He thereafter worked hard and got President Muhammadu Buhari to flag off the Kolmani Oil Exploration in the state, thereby enlisting his beloved state among the elite oil producing states with prospect of higher revenue from the national purse. Gombe under Inuwa Yahaya has bid bye-bye to obscurity into prosperity.
He created a Gombe State Special Development Zone in the metropolis where an ambience of cosmopolitanism and the infrastructural paraphernalia akin to world best cities can be enjoyed while in the state. It is somewhat a semblance of the three arms zone structure in the Federal Capital Territory Abuja. The landscape has changed exponentially. No foreign investor will feel out of place in Gombe metropolis.The streets are well paved and clean. The unique street lights of Gombe streets are fascinating at night and because they are solar powered the whole capital is fully lit in the evenings. Pot holes and traffic jams are nearly non-existent. It is the state capital to be at the moment.
Many foreign investors are now signing up for investment in Gombe. On seeing this huge interest by foreign investors, Inuwa cleverly visited President Buhari and Nigeria’s Aviation Minister to sign up a Federal Government partnership agreement for the internationalization of the Gombe State Airport. This effort paid off as the Federal Government is now in the deal. A few airline operators are already discussing with the state.
The stage is set for Gombe State’s ascendancy as the next economic power in Nigeria. It is clearly Nigeria’s next investment destination.
Gombe State under Inuwa Yahaya has maintained its reputation as the safest state in North East Nigeria with business men and tourists visiting at will. Inuwa Yahaya has brought it out onto a national and international podium of applause.
The health and political dynamism of Gombe State under Inuwa Yahaya was responsible for the Chatham House invitation to the Governor to share his Universal Health Coverage with the world in the United Kingdom while Inuwa Yahaya’s governance brilliance has brought honor to the State. Gombe boasts of three world class specialists’ hospitals and at least a primary health care center in every ward in the state with standby complementary. His GoHealth initiative has brought good medicare to all with a token of contribution.
Inuwa Yahaya’s Social and Empowerment programmes are too numerous to count and too frequent to be forgotten. Virtually all the trades associations have benefitted from one form of empowerment or the other.
His education reforms are legendary. He found a serious mess in the sector and turned it into a sphere of academic excellence. Almost 300 thousand out of school students are back to classes. Academic success ratio which was less than 28% is now 87%.
New ultra-modern classrooms with sporting facilities are in place. Over 1000 teachers are employed to cater for the students. Mass promotion of teachers and civil servants with regular salaries on every 26th of the month is also one of the benefits of the Inuwa administration.
Gombe State is now a regular newsmaker for positive reasons. Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has won the Best Governor of the Year in three reputable Nigerian Newspapers among many other awards.
Clearly the next four years of Inuwa Yahaya should be years of developmental wows. No one can possibly know what Governor Inuwa Yahaya will initiate next,but whatever ideas he puts on the table will certainly and evidently be a ladder higher than where Gombe State is at the moment. I rejoice with the good people of Gombe State for the wise choice of returning the Best Governor ever to rule the Jewel in the Savannah. The brightness of Gombe will never again attract mediocre; kings and Princes and men of high value economic addition shall flood Gombe State.
– Saliu is an Abuja-based public affairs commentator
