Gombe state Government says it is set to convey a stakeholder summit that would produce a long-term development plan with specific milestone and timelines that would guide the present administration for sustainable growth.
Gov. Inuwa Yahaya disclosed this while inaugurating the members of the state’s Executive Council in Gombe on Saturday.
Yahaya stated that the state government was aware of the huge challenges and inherited responsibility on the present administration which according to him “necessitated the needs assessment study which was carried out in order to assess the level and availability of basic services and infrastructure in our communities”.
According to him, the expectations of the people on his administration are very high and there is no time to waste.
“It is our plan that very soon, we shall convene a stakeholder summit that will discuss our challenges in detail and proffer possible solutions to them. It is hoped that such a discourse will enable us to produce a long-term development plan with specific milestones and timelines that will guide the administration into the future.
“We are conscious of the responsibility and the weight of expectations that has been placed on our shoulders. Even before I was sworn-in as Governor, immediately after our election victory, we commissioned a needs assessment study in order to assess the level and availability of basic services and infrastructure in our communities.
“The study covered over 400 communities across the 114 wards of the state. That enabled us to know in detail what our people want and their order of priority. The outcome of the needs assessment report formed the basis on which we run the affairs of government over the last five months,’’ he said.
The governor decried the huge debt profile of the state incurred by the immediate past administration of Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, adding that it is a threat to his administration and the future of Gombe.
“We have seen how the mistakes of the past plunged our state into a terrible financial situation.
“We also observed how mistakes by one administration will continue to drag the state downward seven years after that administration had left,” he said.
He charged the members of the state Executive Council to learn from “the mistakes of the past and avoid repeating similar mistakes in discharging your responsibilities.
The governor expressed hope that the appointees would deploy their wealth of experience and administrative prowess to provide innovative and result-oriented solutions to challenges of the state with a view to leaving the state better than they found it.
