Mohammad Yahaya set to raise the bar in infrastructural development in Gombe

Tunde Opalana, Abuja

Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya , the Governor-elect of Gombe State, on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), is a successful businessman and politician.

Alhaji Yahaya joined politics in 2003 and has been a player in Gombe’s local politics.

In the governorship election of 2015, he was the standard bearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Gombe State but lost to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ibrahim Dakwambo.

He had a stint in governance in 2003, when he was appointed as Commissioner for Finance and Economic Development by Governor Muhammed Danjuma Goje.

Though the development of the state started with the Goje’s administration, the outgoing PDP administration of Ibrahim Dakwambo took the development of Gombe State to a higher pedestal with physical infrastructural projects that has hastened the socio- economic development of the citizenry.

Incoming governor Inuwa Yahaya definitely will have a great task upturning the achievements made by the PDP government.

While the Dakwambo administration was commended by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for turning around the face of the state and giving him high ratings in governance, there are obviously areas not fully covered which the incoming governor can latch unto.

Though Gombe State is one state in the North East region that is not badly ravaged by insurgency, the new administration need to brace up security arrangements and fortify the security landscape to scare away insurgents.

The state under Dakwambo was rated as one of the states that partners with National education agencies to improve quality of education in the state.

Gombe is one of the states that paid the counterpart funding to access the Universal Basic Education Commission fund.

The incoming governor need not to renege in the prompt payment of the fund so that education at primary school level would not suffer.

Of course, much attention needs to be paid to secondary and tertiary education in the state.

Inuwa Yahaya should strive to upgrade level of development at the state owned university, access more donor funding for completion and building of new structures and also try to get accreditation from the National Universities Commission for programmes yet to be accredited.

Yahaya also needs to bring his wealth of experience as a successful businessman to bear in developing the state economically, by creating wealth, job and employment opportunities for his people.

He is expected to work closely with Federal legislators from the state to bring federal presence to the state through development projects.

On October 1, 2018, Yahaya won the gubernatorial primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for Gombe State with the highest votes.

He was elected to the Office of Governor of Gombe State at the 2019 gubernatorial election which was held on March 9, 2019.

He scored a total number of 364,179 votes to defeat his closest rival of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Sen. Usman Bayero Nafada, who polled 222,868 votes.

He was born on October 9, 1961 in Jekadafari, Gombe State.

After elementary school and secondary education, he went to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting in 1983.

As an accountant, his first appointment was with the Bauchi State Investment and Property Development (BSIPDC) as an Accountant and later became the Principal Accountant.

He joined Nasara Motors Limited, his family business, as an Administration and Finance Manager and later became the Managing Director of Nasara Group of Companies.