My last trip to Gombe was in the first week of October, 1996. The state had just been created and I was on hand to explore, firsthand, the qualities the Sani Abacha administration saw in Gombe, to have excised it out of the old Bauchi state. Like the five other states created in 1996, Gombe was basically a rural settlement. It turned out General Abacha was right. It was apparent then, that Gombe, with its abundant human and natural resources was a far-flung outpost to attract much attention from the metropole.

Give it to Gombe and its residents. It was clear in 1996, as it is clear today, that what Gombe lacked in those early days, it ably made up for in the courage and resilience of its people. Over the past three decades, I have travelled through Gombe on my way to states in the Northeast and, since those trips, especially over the past decade, were mainly induced by the Boko-Haram uprising, there was no cause to bother myself with Gombe and elder sibling, Bauchi, two states that are insulated from the insecurity in the Northeast.

However, Gombe state has lately been in the news for good reasons. Over the past several months, the state has won accolades to the chagrin of opponents of the administration but to the apparent of excitement of residents. For instance, in 2021, Gombe State was adjudged the best state in the Ease of Doing Business Index, an achievement that was certified by the National Economic Council. The award was no mean achievement as it received a critical endorsement from BudgIt, a hugely-respected economic barometer agency. In its 2020 ‘State-of-the-States’ Annual Report, BudgIt specifically said it was excited by the ability of the new administration, which inherited a disabling debt overhang of N120 billion, to reduce its operating cost from N42.16 billion by its predecessor in 2019 to N32.62 billion one year later.

The achievements, courtesy of the sterling performance at the behest of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya and the high-achieving team he put in place means the state could no longer be ignored. For similar reasons, appreciative groups and organizations have not failed to take note. Last year, at least two prominent national dailies – The Sun and The Telegraph – named Inuwa Yahaya as the Most Outstanding Governor of the Year, 2022. The influential BusinessDay Newspaper also adjudged Gombe as the Most Improved State on Ease of Doing Business as well as being recognized as the Most Improved State in Rural and Urban Development for the year 2022. When the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria, ANAN, singled out Governor Yahaya for its Exceptional Leadership Award last July, its then president, James Neminebor, said the giant strides in Gombe state is ‘the result of sound financial management system’ put in place by the honoree. Earlier in the year, the governor had received the Pro-Workers Governor’s Award, 2022, from the Trade Union Congress, TUC. These and several awards influenced my decision to spend time in Gombe on my next trip to the Northeast.

Had pleasure been the main preoccupation in Gombe, it would have been provided in abundance as very old friends, in and outside the present political equation in the state, would have volunteered to spoil me a little. For a fact, I have been acquainted with some prominent and respected sons and daughters of Gombe state since 1977 when destiny joined us at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. In fact, two very senior members of the Inuwa Yahaya administration and a prominent traditional ruler in the state belong to this group. So, with little time to spare, all I was concerned with was to witness the ongoing transformation in Gombe state that has earned the state governor laurels within a short span. The opportunity presented itself last month.

Gombe, the state capital has truly changed over the past twenty-eight years. From any end the city is accessed, one cannot fail to notice that rustiness witnessed in October, 1996 has given way to dualized and well-paved streets, high-rise buildings. Nearly all streets, major and not-too-major, are clean during the time and well-lit at night. What is more, nightlife in Gombe is unlike what obtains in contiguous states where insecurity has forced people to constantly steal glances across their shoulders even in broad daylight. Gombe residents attribute the transformation across the state mainly to two administrations in the state: the far-sighted administration of incumbent governor, Inuwa Yahaya, and its offshoot, the equally-transformative administration of Senator Danjuma Goje, in whose government Inuwa Yahaya played a pivotal role as Commissioner of Finance and Economic Planning.

Education ranks high on the ongoing transformation in Gombe state. Though residents credit Danjuma Goje for pioneering an educational revival mission, many believe very little was done to sustain the dream. From dilapidated school buildings to decrepit infrastructure and ill-motivated teaching and non-teaching staff, things continued to spiral out of control in the education sector as Gombe state found itself at the bottom of the educational ladder. In essence, Gombe state was hardly reckoned with even in the northern part of the country. Today, things are beginning to look up and the educational revival programme is back on stream. New model schools have sprung up in the state and school buildings are being modernized and equipped across the state. More teaching staff have been engaged while skill-acquisition and re-training programmes for teachers are on course. The result of the massive investment in education has been instantaneous; there has been a quantum jump in secondary school students’ success ratio and a huge improvement in school enrolment as a result of drastic reduction in the number of out-of-school children.

In line with the Safe-Schools-Initiative, SSI, programme, Gombe state has also embarked on an ambitious programme of erecting security fences in public schools. Satisfied with the progress in the sector, Governor Inuwa Yahaya, in August, 2022, announced an end to the state of emergency imposed in the education sector at the inception of his administration and released an additional N4 Billion lifebuoy for the sector. The giant strides in urban and rural renewal, education, healthcare delivery, security and peaceful coexistence as well as state-wide transformation signpost the fact that the Gombe 10-year Development Plan, a brainchild of Governor Inuwa Yahaya and which the government targets at creating “an enabling environment for sustainable peace, cohesion and all-inclusive development”, is on course. At the heart of the plan is ‘GoHealth Programme’, an all-inclusive health insurance package to deliver affordable healthcare as well as the Muhammadu Buhari Industrial Park which is aimed at transforming Gombe state into an industrial hub. The new status of Gombe as an oil-producing state is an added boost to the ongoing transformative agenda of Governor Inuwa Yahaya.

With solid structures to transform Gombe being put in place, it is, indeed a dawn of new hope for Gombe state. What will eventually decide the fate of the state in the post-Yahaya Inuwa years will depend largely on how successive administrations key into the farsighted developmental policies of the present administration.

For Gombe, it is apt to say, so far, so fair.

•Magaji magaji778@gmail.com lives from Abuja.

Update news