November 09, (THEWILL) – Gombe State is located in Northeastern Nigeria. It was created out of Bauchi state on 1st October, 1996 by the then military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha. Gombe state shares boundaries with Yobe to the North, Borno and Adamawa to the East, Bauchi to the West and Taraba state to the South. It is known as Jewel in the Savannah. The capital and largest city is Gombe.
The people of Gombe state are primarily farmers. They produce food and cash crops which include Cereals: maize, sorghum, rice and wheat. Others are Legumes: cowpeas, groundnuts, soya beans and Bambara nuts. Fruits: orange, lemon, mango, guava, paw-paw and grapes. Vegetables: tomatoes, pepper, onions, okra, pumpkin and melon. Tree Crops: gum Arabic, kenaf, sugar cane, sunflower and ginger. It also produces cotton as cash crop.
Proportion of cultivation of major crops:
Potatoes 90%
Cassava 80%
Rice 70%
Soya Beans 70%
Beans 80%
Yam 80%
These products provide raw material for agro-based industries like the Tomato Company, cotton ginnery and groundnut oil mill already in the state. Other industries are cement, furniture and block-making among other small scale industries.
Gombe is blessed with natural resources like Uranium, Gypsum, and Limestone. Recently, petroleum deposits were reportedly discovered in the state.
Population: 2.35 (2006 Estimate)
FACT-FILE:
LGA: 11
Land area: 20,265km2
Public Primary Schools 1,734 (2020)
Public Primary School Enrolment 479,746
Public Junior Secondary Schools: 267 (2014)
Public Senior Secondary Schools: 175 circa
University: (2) Federal – 1, state – 2.
Polytechnic: 1 – state
College of Education: State – 2
College of Nursing and Midwifery: State – 1
Registered Companies: 80
Domestic Debt: N84.96bn (2020)
External Debt: $192.47m
Revenue: 48.46bn
FAAC N40bn (82.32% of total revenue)
IGR 8.43 (17.62% of total revenue)
Total Tax: N6.57bn
2021 Budget: 120.34bn
Tourist Attractions
Tourist attractions in the state includes Balanga Dam, Dadunkawa Dam and Babayaro Tomb, Emir’s Palace, Tule Battlefield, Tangale Hill, Dadunkawa Dam is located in Yamaltu Deba Local Government Area, about 37km from Gombe town. The dam was designed to have a reservoir capacity of 2.8 billion cubic meters to include the generation of 34mw electricity while irrigating 44,000 hectares of farmland, and providing about 19 million gallons daily potable water to Gombe capital.
10-Year Development Plan:
Gombe State Government has unveiled its 2021 to 2030 10-year Development Plan in February 2021, aimed at harnessing the potentials of the state, by taking advantage of emerging opportunities and tackling challenges and threats.
Speaking during the official unveiling of the plan in Gombe, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, said the road map for the transformation of Gombe State was aligned with Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations SDGs.
According to him, the Gombe State Development Plan, which was referred to as Development Agenda for Gombe State, DEVAGOM, was the road map for the transformation of Gombe State and a product of wide consultations from all stakeholders in the state.
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He said DEVAGOM was an agenda of the people, by the people and for the people and giving the state the opportunity to define its vision through the eyes of its people.
The United Nations Resident Co-ordinator, Edward Kallon, and heads of other UN agencies, promised to support the quantum leap of the Yahaya administration.
Gombe Firing From All Cylinders To Drive Development
Guided by the Gombe State Development Plan DEVAGOM (2021-2030) strategy, the government is fast-tracking development from different angles, mainly infrastructure, industries and human capital. The N8.2 billion Ultra-modern Central Motor Park started in 2012 and sitting on 28 acre-parcel of land has attained 75% completion under the current government. Solar energy, youth skill acquisition and cottage industry processing industry are springing up rapidly.
According to the Hon. Commissioner for Information & Culture, Hon. Julius Ishaya Lepes, the 40 MW hydropower facility in Dankuwa will boost industrial activities in many sectors. He said the park will take advantage of it when fully operational because of many businesses that will be cited there.
He disclosed that the state had awarded a contract of N16.4bn energy facility to provide power to the industrial park where civil works, road infrastructure and other facilities are designed to attract big-term investors – many of whom have indicated interest to that effect. “Gombe is blessed with lots of mineral resources. Of recent, we signed an MoU with Magudu Cement to establish a factory here; they are bringing in $600m. We are establishing companies in Kwambo and Kwalli. The process is ongoing.
We have signed an MoU with Rift Oil. A 50,000 bpd modular refinery to serve the north-east is being established. Very soon, Gombe will join the league of Nigeria’s oil producing states”, he told visiting team of Business Editors and Financial Correspondents Association of Nigeria in Gombe recently.
Challenging Factors: Insecurity in the North East; legion of uneducated youth, poor electricity supply, high cost of living, hindering cultural values.
*** BY SAM DIALA & OLAYEMI SHABA
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
