Governor Inuwa Yahaya Righting The Wrongs Of The Past In Gombe
By Oyewale Oyelola
Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya while taking Oath of Office on May 29, 2019 raises hope of thousands of his supporters and well wishers that graced the colourful occasion by promising to correct wrongs of the immediate past administration in the state.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya in his emotional and inspiring inauguration speech said: ”The report of the Transition Committee presented on 11th May, 2019, has further revealed the unpleasant picture of our state of affairs. The committee enumerated a number of worrying developments such as: huge interest-bearing debts estimated at over 110 billion naira; high drug abuse index ranking the Gombe State among the top three in the country; absence of maternal and child care; unacceptable high rate of out of school children; poor performance in basic education placing Gombe State as the 34th state in school examinations index.
”Let me assure our people that we are aware of the last-minute massive employment into the state and local government services. We are equally aware of the reckless award of contracts embarked upon recently. We have also been alerted of the massive illegal disposals of government properties. We know of the irresponsible carving out, allocations and sale of plots of land to cronies. We know of all the atrocities being committed. Be rest assured that we shall take steps to address all illegalities. Perpetrators and illegal beneficiaries will be held to account.”
The governor therefore hit the ground running by inaugurating three committees to swiftly implement plans to restore lost glory of Gombe state. The three taskforce are Properties and Assets Recovery, Fertilizer Distribution and Water Supply.
Surprisingly, the three committees comprise professionals and technocrats with relevant experience as well as skills to deliver mandate given to them by Governor Yahaya. This is a shift from normal reasoning of typical Nigerian politician who uses every available opportunity to settle political allies and family members. No wonder, a political associate of the governor described him as a goal getter, focused and matured mind leader who always prioritize people’s interest above person gains.
For records, the Property and Assets Recovery Taskforce is headed by Group Captain Peter Bilal (Retd) while Barr. Obei Yali (Mni) serves as Secretary and other members were drawn Security agencies. The Committee on Fertilizer Distribution comprises professionals from Ministry of Agriculture and University Dons while Water Supply taskforce is dominated by engineers.
Expectedly, the action of Governor Inuwa Yahaya is already yielding good fruits as Properties and Assets recovery taskforce mandated to investigate activities that led to disposal of the properties on March 10, 2019 by Ibrahim Dankwanbo led administration. So far, past government officials have voluntarily surrendered the state properties including landed property, armored and exotic vehicles to the taskforce. The former deputy governor reportedly returned one bullet proof Lexus Jeep and two other luxury vehicles while the taskforce has moved to use legal means to recovery the state government properties former governor, Dr. Ibrahim Dankwanbo and some his commissioners allegedly acquired illegally.
Similarly, the people of Gombe state are now enjoying regular water supply in areas covered by Water Corporation as Governor Yahaya has released fund for fixing of busted pipes and provide other palliatives to ensure clean and potable water get to every part of the state. Hopefully, the issues militating against steady water supply will be resolved by implementing recommendations of Taskforce on Water Supply.
Apart from that, farmers contribute 75percent to state economic outputs would experience pumper harvest this farming season with the intervention of the Fertilizer Distribution committee overseeing the sales as well as distribution to real and not political farmers across the 11 local government areas who have been using fertilizer subsidy for personal enrichment.
Besides, the power and electricity supply is gradually improving through synergy between the state government and Power Distribution Company in Gombe. The era of epileptic electricity supply is fading out as people now enjoys average of 12hours supply. Governor Inuwa Yahaya has also promised to release counterpart funding for Dadin Kowa Power Plant with capacity of generating 40Megawatts to boost electricity supply across the 11 local government areas in the state.
Furthermore, Governor Inuwa Yahaya has assured development partners such as World Bank, WHO among others of his administration readiness to release counterpart funding as against the nonchalant posture of the immediate past government to developmental issues.
Additionally, the APC led administration has pledged to prioritise workers’ welfare, promotion and provision of conducive working environment in order to boost their productivity and efficiency.
Indeed, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya means business about his willingness to right the wrongs of the past, deliver campaign promises and sweet dividends of democracy to the citizenry who voted en masse for him during March 9 governorship election in Gombe state.