Caption: Governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo
Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri
Governors of the six states of the North east region have agreed to implement the resolutions of the first and second regional economic summits in order to accelerate the development of the area.
The states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe.
The governor of Gombe State, Ibrahim Dankwambo, who hosted the second summit, said at the closing ceremony on Thursday that all the governors of the region are committed to taking actions that would move the region forward.
He said the governors have mandated the planning committee for the second summit to within eight weeks draw up an action plan that would guide them in implementing the recommendations proposed.
“What we are committed to now is action and we assure our citizens that we will do our best to implement the resolutions, so as to revamp our region,” the governors pledged.
According to the summit’s planning committee chairman, Kabiru Ahmed, part of the resolution is to take advantage of the financial inclusion strategy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and upgrade current investment promotion agencies.
“The Central Bank has developed a very comprehensive financial improvement strategy. We should key into that. We must take advantage. The funds are available. We need to upgrade our investment promotion agencies. Most of the ones we have are largely property companies. We need to partner with the private sector but beyond that, we need to establish an enabling environment for investment promotion,” Ahmed said.
Other resolutions include the need for greater coordination, collaboration and integration across the region, the need for an economic transformation that leads to job creation, the delivery of vital policies and services by governments for sustainable development and the urgent need for the region to focus on accelerating progress on the millennium development goals, among others
The governors also agreed to hold meetings quarterly from next year with key stakeholders, in order to accelerate the implementation process.
The theme of the second summit of the North-east region is “Accelerating Economic Development, for Sustainable Development.”