Since his appointment in October 2017, Mohammed Goni Alkali, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the North‑East Development Commission (NEDC), has distinguished himself as a transformational leader in the rebuilding of Nigeria’s North‑east. Through his visionary leadership, the NEDC has evolved into a driving force for stability, infrastructure renewal, and socio‑economic empowerment across the zone’s six states: Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe, and Yobe.
Alkali’s leadership has earned him widespread recognition, including the African Leadership Administrative Excellence Award at the 2024 African Leadership Persons of the Year Awards, celebrating his unwavering commitment and impact.
No doubt, he assumed such a position in the sense that his credentials truly count. Goni holds a first‑class honours in accounting from Bayero University, Kano, with a master’s in accounting and finance from the London School of Economics. Alkali combines academic excellence with robust global exposure, graduating from executive programmes at Harvard, Columbia, and Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Before his appointment in NEDC, he oversaw operations at the Bank of Industry, where he honed his acumen in development finance. These experiences helped shape his strategic approach at NEDC: data‑driven, inclusive, and impact‑oriented.
His impact on the NEDC is overwhelming. On education, so far, he constructed eight mega schools, each with 16 classrooms, six laboratories, and hostels for 480 students, which are now operational in the zone.
Not only that, NEDC under Goni has seen the expansion of over 200 classroom blocks constructed in 20 schools across Yobe and other states. Besides, he saw to the realisation of over N6b intervention under the Education Trust Fund, to support more than 20,000 beneficiaries via scholarships, infrastructure and learning materials.
On infrastructure and housing, NEDC rehabilitated 178 km of roads, with the construction of inter‑state bridges across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.
In mass housing, the commission built over 3,500 homes completed, including 1,000 in Borno and hundreds in the other five states—alongside boreholes, solar street lighting, police posts and motor parks in resettlement areas.
Healthcare is one aspect that the Goni led NEDC looked into, and so far, more than 1,000 minor and cataract surgeries have been conducted; dozens of clinics and primary healthcare centres built or rehabilitated across the zone.
The NEDC organised the distribution of essential food and non‑food items, rice, oil, mattresses, hygiene kits, nets to thousands of displaced households.
Apart from this, and given that the North-east is agrarian, the commission distributed farm machinery, fertiliser, seeds and agro‑chemicals, operating an Integrated Agricultural Programme that spans all 112 local government areas, bolstering food security and economic resilience for rural communities.
On youth & women empowerment, NEDC ensured some entrepreneurship, vocational and ICT skills training for youth and women schemes, which led to starter‑packs and business support, deterring vulnerable groups from radicalisation and creating livelihoods in every ward of the region.
In Borno state, specifically, NEDC has executed several projects from 2023 to date. They include:
1. Solar‑Powered Boreholes & Drainage Works: Over 50 solar‑powered boreholes were drilled in Maiduguri and other communities to improve access to safe drinking water. The commission also evacuated and desilted over 1 million metres of drainage systems across Borno and five other Northeastern states to mitigate flooding and enhance sanitation, with about 300,000 metres completed in Maiduguri alone.
2. Solar Street‑Lighting & Mini‑Grid Infrastructure: NEDC installed 3,500 solar‑powered streetlights in Maiduguri, covering areas such as Polo, Jiddari, Dikwa Low-cost, Mogolis, Old GRA, and along Maiduguri–Kano road. The commission also deployed a 129.6 kWh solar hybrid mini‑grid and a 360 kWh backup generator, providing electricity to underserved communities.
3. Healthcare Infrastructure Upgrades: Under the leadership of Alkali, the commission upgraded the Borno State Central Medical Store to pharma‑grade standards at a cost of approximately ₦500 million, equipped with solar power, CCTV, and digital monitoring for safe storage of drugs and vaccines.
It also renovated male and female wards at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital and Borno State Dental Hospital, and fully equipped the Eye Hospital in Maiduguri.
Additionally, an ultra‑modern clinic was constructed and commissioned at the DSS command, complete with an ambulance, solar lighting, and medical staff facilities.
4. Education & Empowerment Initiatives: The commission donated 40,000 two‑seat school chairs, distributed across all 27 local government areas to support basic education.
It also provided ICT centre facilities to benefit about 1,000 students at Federal Polytechnic Monguno and the Borno Agency for Mass Literacy in Maiduguri.
5. Flood Prevention & Environmental Management: To prevent future flooding and protect farmland, NEDC procured heavy‑duty excavators valued at approximately ₦1.42 billion to dredge Alau Dam and silted rivers, as part of its response to the September 2024 Alau Dam flood.
All these actions and commitment by the Goni led NEDC earned him recognition across the board. He was given an award for Exemplary Leadership by the North‑East Elders and Youths Peoples Forum in late 2023, in recognition of his contributions to regional rebuilding, including roads like Gombe‑Abba‑Kirfi and Alkaleri‑Futuk, mega schools, housing units and community infrastructure. Not only that, he has succeeded in gaining endorsements from civil society groups, such as the Coalition of North‑East Youth Alliance and the Coalition of Human Rights Groups in Nigeria—praising his accountability, integrity and continuity of excellence with his reappointment in 2024.
Alkali is often described as a humanist and ethical technocrat, a development leader whose strength lies in compassion, transparency, and inclusivity. He champions the North‑East Stabilisation and Development Master Plan (NESDMP), a blueprint approach to sustainable recovery, aligned with federal ‘Renewed Hope’ priorities and supported by collaborations with the United Nations and civil society.
Under his leadership, despair has turned to optimism, isolation to integration; displacement to dignity. The North‑East is no longer defined solely by its past suffering but by its rising potential. In rebuilding schools, roads, markets, homes and hearts, Mohammed Goni Alkali has laid the foundation for hope renewed and for generations ahead to thrive in peace.
Alkali exemplifies public service at its best. In his focus, it is a blend of vision, competence and empathy. His transformative journey through NEDC continues to touch lives and shape a new future for Nigeria’s North‑East. Alkali is not simply managing development, he is managing renewal, unity and hope.