…Gives Insight on How His Government Manages Environmental and Security Challenges

Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has received a team of participants and faculty officials from the National Institute for Security Studies, Abuja who are on study tour of Gombe State.

The Executive Intelligence Management Course participants were in Gombe to interrogate the course theme for this year which is “the global climate challenge; prospects and priorities for economic development and conflict resolution in Africa” with a view to obtaining realtime experience on environmental issues in the state, their security and development implications and how Gombe State Government is managing them.

Speaking during the occasion, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya thanked the institute for choosing Gombe State to undertake this important study and expressed hope that their study will bring an end to the security challenges in the country and Africa at large.

The governor maintained that Gombe being a model to other states in terms of security and environmental management was not arbitrarily achieved, but a result of deliberate efforts and well thought-out plans to put the state on the right track.

He said despite the enormous security and other socio-economic challenges in the country and North-East in particular, Gombe remains the most peaceful state in the sub-region despite being at the centre.

He noted that in recent times, Gombe had witnessed influx of displaced persons from other North eastern states, where more than 77,000 displaced families were estimated to have migrated into the state, the development that is putting more pressure on the existing social amenities and security architecture of the state.

The governor explained that there is strong nexus between the environmental challenges and insecurity facing this country, citing farmers-herders conflict and banditry in different parts of the country.

He attributed the environmental challenges affecting especially the Northern Part of Nigeria to factors such as desertification as a result of indiscriminate felling down of trees, shrinking of lake Chad, abandonment of Great Green Wall Project, population explosion and improper agricultural practices etc all of which have adverse effects on the socio-economic development of the people.

Narrowing the theme down to Gombe, the governor said, “For Gombe in particular, we can attribute the effects of environmental problems and security challenges to
poor farming practices, poor mining practices and above all, lack of coordination and synergy between various environmental institutions”.

The governor explained that his administration has not taken the environmental challenges lightly, adding that he has made deliberate efforts to overcome environmental challenges by way of tree-planting to combat desertification, erosion and other related challenges.

“We initiated Gombe Goes Green Project with the target of planting one million trees annually where we simultaneously provided engagement to youths while protecting and preserving the environment”, the governor said.

He further stated that Gombe State Traffic and Environmental Corps, GOSTEC, which is a human capital development conceived and initiated by his administration targeted at reducing youths restiveness also has security and environmental protection at the centre of its targets.

Governor Inuwa revealed that involvement of host communities by his government in every programme is the key to success of his initiatives maintaining that for every programme to succeed, beneficiaries need to take ownership of the project.

The governor suggested ways of mitigating the adverse effects of climate change in the country to include preservation and protection of vegetation resources, rescuing Lake Chad by way of water transfer from Congo Basin, proper agricultural practices, supporting afforestation programmes and proper coordination and synergy among environmental institutions.

Earlier speaking, Dr Nka Obi-Bisong, a Directing Staff at the Institute said the tower is part of the effort of the Institute to impart on participants the required knowledge to address the dynamic and complex security challenges in their respective countries as well as to foster inter agency synergy and international corporation.

The Leader of the Delegation who is also the syndicate supervisor, Mr. Jibrin Yaro, FSI thanked Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya for the warm reception accorded members of his team and commended him for making deliberate efforts in mitigating the global phenomenon.

“I would like to thank you for your efforts in combating the menace of climate change in your state, because we made certain observations on our way coming yesterday and we noticed obvious signs of challenges brought upon by the global climate change which we are here to understudy.

“We are also here to tap on your repository of knowledge with a view to enriching our research findings”, he added.

The visiting team comprised of fifteen course participants of syndicate five drawn from 21 Strategic Agencies in Nigeria and four African Countries of The Gambia, Ghana, Niger and Ruwanda as well as five faculty members from the Institute.

Ismaila Uba Misilli
Director-General
( Press Affairs)
Government House
Gombe

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