By Segun Awofadeji
Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Muhammadu Yahaya has said the state is open to investors that would assist in driving his administration’s vision of making the state a one-stop-shop for trade, commerce and manufacturing.
Yahaya stated this at the weekend when he received senior officials of Keystone Bank, led by the Managing Director in charge of Northern Region, Ahmed Jibril Lawal.
The Governor said the banking sector has gone through a lot of reforms and transformation over the years.
The Governor disclosed that Gombe State Government is keen on devising means of generating money to stimulate the economy in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, hence the people would need the support of financial institutions in the areas of health, agriculture, education, trade and investment, saying his administration is amenable to what the bank is bringing to the table.
He directed relevant members of the State Executive Council to avail themselves to discussions with the bank on areas of mutual benefit.
He said because of the relative peace Gombe enjoys, the state has maintained its status as the business hub of the north-east, adding that the state was open to financial institutions who seek to do business in the state so long as they can come up with packages that will better the lots of the p6 and uplift their social being.
“You are in Gombe, you know the history of the state, so you know how best to serve the people, the most important thing is how you relate and gather customers, especially with good packages that will help stimulate the economy post covid-19”.
” In Gombe, we are coming up with an industrial park perhaps the first of its kind in the North East measuring about one thousand hectres in size and we are willing to accommodate whoever is interested as an investor to come and join hands with us to put up agro-allied industries because of our potential in agriculture, solid minerals and other natural resources”.
The Governor expressed the belief that the value chain along the Agricultural sector can do alot of good to the economic wellbeing of the people.
He said the federal government has identified the Wawa-Zange grazing reserve to be used as a model project for the National Livestock Transformation Programme which is aimed improving livestock production and animal husbandry as well as combating incessant farmers/herders clashes.
Yahaya commended Keystone’s approach to corporate social responsibility.
Earlier speaking, Lawal said the bank was at the Gombe Government House to pay respect to the Governor and to intimate the government and people of the state of the bank’s objectives and packages.
He said keystone Bank remains a development and partnership bank which is now rebranded towards providing support and bettering the lives of the people.
“It is for this reason that the Managing Director disclosed that the Bank will undertake the renovation of a secondary school in the state as part of its corporate social responsibility,” he said.
