Why Gombe enjoys peace, by Gov Yahaya

The Gombe state governor, Inuwa Yahaya, has said the relative peace being enjoyed in the state despite its central position in the North-east “is a result of strategic planning.”

Yahaya stated this at a roundtable on the crisis situation in Afghanistan and its implications for Nigeria and Africa, organised by the Alumni Association of the National Defence College (AANDEC) on Friday, in Abuja.

The roundtable was organised in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the National Defence College (NDC).

He said Gombe being central and sharing boundaries with all other five North- east states was vulnerable to security infractions.

The governor disclosed that the government decided to adopt a holistic approach by enhancing its internal security architecture to prevent the state from being overrun by insurgents.

He said the insurgents had made several attempts to make in-road into the state, but failed because of the state’s nationalistic disposition.


“In Gombe state, we imbibe the spirit of nationalism, patriotism and be our brothers’ keepers in facilitating peaceful co-existence. Without the basic infrastructure needed for meaningful livelihood to thrive, there would not be peace especially with the youthful population that we have.

“So, we need to empower our youths and provide them with vocations and jobs that can make them useful to themselves and to the society,” he said.

Yahaya said the discussion on the Afghanistan event was timely considering the fact that Afghanistan and Nigeria shared similarities in their security challenges.

He urged the participants to ensure that they discussed explicitly and proffer implementable solutions and recommendations.

(NAN)