Shettima Hails Governor Sule’s Legacy For Sustainable Future

The 3rd Nasarawa Investment Summit which held last Wednesday, was supposed to be another avenue to review the progress of a development blueprint, which today stands the state out as a key investment and industrial hub, and chart a course towards consolidating on its many gains.

However, the event also turned out to be a veritable opportunity for the presidency to eulogise the key driver of the vision and effort, which has also had a tremendous impact on the country’s economy, Governor Abdullahi Sule.  And there was no other personality suited to do the job outside President Bola Tinubu himself than his Vice, Kashim Shettima.

As has been his characteristic wherever he had the opportunity of representing his boss, Shettima held the audience captive, deploying all the endearment terms possible to buttress the fact that Governor Sule has been a key apostle of Tinubu-led federal government’s transformative agenda.

Speaking at the opening of the two-day summit, themed: “Bold Transitions, Building a Legacy for a Sustainable Future”, Shettima  praised  Sule and his team for showing that reform is a daily act of fidelity to principle, noting that over the past seven years, Nasarawa has pursued development with a calm conviction of a state that knows where it is going.

“It is why investors, policymakers, entrepreneurs, financiers, industrialists, technocrats, and development partners compare notes and discover areas of mutual interest. It is why the imagination of government meets the courage of private enterprise,” he said.

The vice president noted that the reform at the center has been robbing off on the states positively.

“Reform at the centre has opened fiscal space across the Federation and increased the revenues flowing to states. The result is that subnational governments now have greater room to think, to build, to invest, and to respond to the needs of their people with renewed confidence.

“Across the Federation, states are no longer condemned to wage at the margins of national ambition.  They now have the means to build roads, hone infrastructure, support enterprises, expand opportunities, and invest in the human capital that turns communities into engines of growth,” he stated.

He appreciates the governor for being able to deploy the improved allocation from the federation account made possible by the subsidy removal into improving infrastructure across the state. He lauded him for transforming Lafia into a mega city within just a few years.

“Today, all around Lafia, I see flyovers, beautiful roads, wonderful edifices. These are products of good governance. This is the meaning of a working Federation. When the centre is stronger, the states can breathe.  When states receive more revenues, communities feel the presence of government. Confidence, too, is returning to the marketplace,” he remarked.

President Tinubu himself echoed what has become a truism when he visited the state to commission Governor Sule’s many legacy projects sometime last year, stressing the ongoing development in Nasarawsa aptly mirrored his effort.

Governor Sule has also consistently linked his administrative performance and infrastructure developments in the State to the policies and support from the President.

He had stressed at every for a that the removal of the fuel subsidy by President Tinubu provided the necessary resources for his administration to initiate and complete legacy projects—such as flyovers and underpasses in Lafia—without borrowing money.

He had also lauded the President’s other economic reforms, including the unification of foreign exchange windows, as courageous decisions that saved states from potential bankruptcy and enabled economic development.

Also touching on the impact of Governor Sule’s internal reforms, Shettima agreed that the governor has indeed earned Tinubu’s confidence as a trail blazer and performer.

“From the establishment of the Nasarawa Investment Development Agency (NASIDA), and the One Stop Investment Centre to the creation of the Electricity Regulatory Commission, and the Nasarawa Infrastructure Pack, Governor has done well as partner in nation building. NASIDA built a durable architecture for prosperity.  This ambition reflects the philosophy of a government that believes in institutions. A government that believes that institutions must hold the key to progress,’ he averred.

According to him, the greatest gift any leader can leave is the certainty that progress will survive after him.

The vice president urged Sule to work towards ensuring that his successor in 2027 continues the good works he has been doing in the state.

Speaking earlier, Governor Sule said the 2026 summit marked the final investment forum under his administration and represented a defining moment for the state’s economic trajectory.

He described it as “a strategic platform to consolidate on the existing gains and chart a pathway for the next phase of economic transformation.”

Sule recalled that the 2022 “Diamond in the Rough” edition introduced Nasarawa’s natural resources and proximity to Abuja to investors, while the 2024 “Industrial Renaissance” shifted focus to agriculture, mining, manufacturing and infrastructure.

The current edition, he said, is designed to protect and embed reforms in durable institutions so that progress endures beyond individual administrations.

“A key concern is that political transitions can create uncertainty for investors, particularly when reforms are tied to specific leaders rather than embedded in institutional frameworks.

“Maintaining investor confidence requires clear signals that policy, regulatory systems and contractual commitments will remain stable and predictable,” Sule said.