Governor Mohammed Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe state has lamented decades of challenges faced by the Northeastern part of Nigeria, arising from the devastating insurgency that had killed thousands of people and displaced millions others.
“While the debilitating climate change effects that endanger the livelihood of millions of people along the Chad basin and beyond, coupled with desertification with its attendant environmental damage has led to a systematic decline in the quality of life of people, making the Northeast the most underdeveloped subregion in the country”.
The Governor noted.
Governor Yahaya who was speaking during the Noertheast Governors Forum meeting in Gombe said, “as leaders, we have to take on these challenges with all sense of responsibility. More so because, the things that unite us are far more than the ones that divide us. We are one people bound by common geography, history and destiny”.
The Governor who pointed out that Poverty, disease, hunger and agony have no eyes, maintained that the resultant effect of all the problems mentioned which originated from the Boko Haram insurgency has led to the current state of dilapidation in the quality of life of the people of the Northeast region of the country.
“The prevailing security situation posed an existential threat to the subregion and therefore, necessitating the need for us to convened this gathering in order to come up with a united front that can address our collective challenges as a subregion”. The Gombe Governor disclosed.
“I am sincerely grateful to my colleagues and brothers from Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe and Taraba States for answering this call, history will remember us for this bold initiative”, he added.
The Governor further lamented that the security situation and its attendant humanitarian effects that ushered in donor agencies with their pros and cons said on one side, donor agencies provide the much-needed interventions to stabilize the communities and prevent an all-out humanitarian emergency.
According to him, some unscrupulous elements/entities are seeking to commercialize the suffering of the people in the name of finding solutions, urged his colleagues and brothers not to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
He said that the solution to the problem lies in their ability to create, implement and enforce a common regional framework for coordinating donor-driven humanitarian interventions across their subregion.
“I have already shared these concerns privately with all of you at different fora. On our part, Gombe State has created an office to properly coordinate the activities of donor agencies and development partners. Even as we remain grateful to our local and international partners for their help, the solutions to our problems must spring from within rather than outside, if it has to be sustained.” He insisted.
Governor Yahaya while thanking the federal government for the establishment of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), said Northeast must be willing to learn lessons from history.
“For the NEDC to position itself as a truly development agency that is capable of creating positive impacts on our people, it must avoid the pitfalls of similar agencies like the NDDC in the Niger Delta.The NEDC should operate as a unique driver of development in the subregion. This can be achieved by creating a strong synergy with all our States and promoting wider consultation among relevant stakeholders”. The Governor said.
