A consortium of investors from companies in India, the U.S.A, China and Nigeria for the Special Agricultural Processing Zone in Gombe State, Northeast, Nigeria says it is ready to engage 4,000 unemployed youths in the state, by equipping them with skills for them to be independent.
This was revealed in Gombe, by the head of the consortium, Mr. Shu’aibu Bello, who is the Vice President of the Global Consortium, after a meeting with the Gombe State Government, represented by the Deputy Governor, Dr. Mannasah Daniel Jatau and the representatives of the various companies.
Mr. Bello said the 4,000 youths would be drawn from the existing 23,000 unemployed youths who duly registered in the state and who were within the age range of 18 and 35 and who were also graduates or diploma holders
“The essence is to key Gombe State into our own Skill-Up Nigeria Project. We call it SUN in our consortium, where we try to skill up unemployed staff,” Mr. Bello said.
He said it was a replica of what was going on with the farmers of Auyo, Jigawa State, where 3, 000 youths were trained, as well as 1, 000 others in Bagwai LGA of Kano State.
He said the team was impressed with the readiness of the Gombe State Government to kick-start the Special Agricultural Processing Zone.
“In some of the states we’ve visited, in terms of readiness is zero ground level, but honestly, the infrastructure being put in place already, even before the funding of African Development Bank arrives here, is very encouraging and I feel, to keep this team, we need to wait for the funding to come, we should just continue so that the state would be encouraged, the people of the state would be encouraged,” Mr. Bello said.
Overall, Mr. Bello said there was no time to waste.
“I think we will start from this dry season and get prepared better. Possibly, if we can get 4,000 engaged, I don’t think it’s immediately a mean achievement. We’re looking at the airport, possibly to become a cargo airport, with the approval of the governor, then we have an avenue to take these things. There are partners, so many partners lining up who want to drive on our shoulders to tap these resources in Nigeria,” Mr. Bello said.
SAPZ
The Gombe State Commissioner of Finance, Mr. Muhammad Gambo Magaji said the engagement with the consortium was a continuation of the desire of the state to establish an agricultural processing zone in Gombe. “The SAPZ, is a model under the African Development Bank funding, Gombe has been listed as one of the states in the second stream, but we did not wait for the AFDB to be able to regain putting in place what is required for an agro-processing zone to be established in Gombe,” said Mr. Magaji.
He said with over 90% of the Muhammadu Buhari Park completed, Gombe State was now ready to receive investors in the park, saying so far after the hosting of the first Gombe Investment Summit in October of last year, a company was already established in the park, while some others had also established their companies in the state.
Mr. Magaji said three reputable companies were looking for collaboration and engagement with the state government on the SAPZ programme and also enhanced the vision to encourage investors and investments into Gombe State.
Overall, he said it was a great engagement with the consortium, which would allow them to further the mutual relations between them.
Industrial Park
The Commissioner of Trade, Industry and Tourism, Mr. Nasiru Mohammed Aliyu, also said they had a discussion, with Muhammadu Buhari Industrial Park being the centre of focus.
Mr. Aliyu said the consortium praised the Gombe State Government’s efforts, which was that it proactively established the industrial park with over 18 billion naira investments, even before the coming of the African Development Bank
“This has also shed more light on the fact that some people were alleging that the industrial park was constructed with a loan from the African Development Bank. So, people have now known the truth. It is a singular effort made by the state government to forge ahead without waiting,” Mr. Aliyu said.
He believed this would encourage potential investors, the African Development Bank, and also the team from the Agro-processing Zone because they wouldn’t have to start from scratch.
Mr. Aliyu is therefore inviting investors in other sectors to come and invest in areas such as the hospitality industry and livestock because of the Wawa-Zange Cattle Ranch, with the availability of land.
For Mr. Mohammed Adebola, the Consultant of the Technical Adviser on SAPZ and Principal Partner, the chair of all the processes for development in the state, the consortium was in Gombe State to look at the possibility of high-scale and high-level collaboration and cooperation to draw investors into the state, particularly in the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone, SAPZ, Programme.
Opportunities
Mr. Adebola said the meeting looked at the basics of how to start the quick wins and how to bring opportunities into the state through the SAPZ Programme, funded by the AfDB and possibly the Islamic Bank.
Dr. Dleepkumar Dukuku, Director of Agtech Innovation L.t.d, USA, is also impressed with the visit and the seriousness of the government in encouraging investors to come into the state.
He said the most important part of the visit was to help the state government effectively design and implement the SAPZ, to be funded by the African Development Bank.
Dr. Dukuku said the consortium was committed and had to do all that was needed for the successful implementation of the SAPZ to actualise other opportunities in the state.
Mr. Zhou Hnugfei from China Railway Engineering Company of Nigeria Ltd said it was an honour being in Gombe State because it was well organised.
Shakirat Sadiq
