Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has revealed that the State has been under intense pressure hosting an estimated 77,000 internally displaced persons from neighbouring States in recent times due to the activities of insurgents in Northeast Nigeria.
According to him, the development has put more pressure on the existing social amenities and security architecture of the state.
He stated this when he received a team of participants and faculty officials from the National Institute for Security Studies, Abuja, who were on a study tour of Gombe State.
The Governor who commended the institute for choosing Gombe State to undertake the study, expressed hope that their study will bring an end to the security challenges in the country and Africa at large.
He said Gombe State has maintained a model status to other States in terms of security and environmental management as a result of deliberate efforts and well thought-out plans to put the state on the right track.
According to him, 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.
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.
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He attributed the environmental challenges affecting the Northern Part of Nigeria to factors such as desertification which is caused by indiscriminate falling down of trees, shrinking of lake Chad, abandonment of Great Green Wall Project, population explosion and improper agricultural practices among others.
“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.
Leader of the Delegation who is also the syndicate supervisor, Mr. Jibrin Yaro, thanked the Governor for the warm reception accorded members of his team and for 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.
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.
