AHMADU FINTIRI AND THE NORTHEAST GOVERNORS

All five Northeast governors who converged in Government House Yola on November 24 – 25, 2023, on their way from the Lamido Aliyu Mustafa International Airport Yola are the Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s unique selling points as Governor of Adamawa State. The Lamido Aliyu Mustafa Flyover and the first great interchange in the northeast; massive business activities along the Galadima Aminu Way; courtesy of the peace being enjoyed in Adamawa; and the social

investment of the Fintiri government, the new roads that link Atiku Abubaka Way, Justice Buba Ardo Way, and Ahmadu Bello Way, the bubbling students’ activities at the Adamawa State Polytechnic, and the coordinated movements of the Fresh Air New Metro Buses. These activities define Fintiri’s style of administration: urban renewal, human capital development, and using today’s resources to cater for tomorrow’s needs while distinguishing the needs and wants of the entire people of Adamawa.

The 9th Northeast Governor Forum in Yola came at the right time in Adamawa, while its communiqué reflected the needs of the region while taking cognizance of the peculiarities of each of the six states. In his opening remarks, Gov. Fintiri said the governors are committed to the course of the Northeast Governors’ Forum, which is to work to develop long- and short-term strategies and capacity-building solutions for meeting both the present and future challenges in the region. Governor Fintiri also said they’re united by their common challenge of low-rated economic development indices. However, most development experts said the Northeast governors are gradually and collectively winning the war against their common challenges: Boko Haram insurgency, banditry, farmer-herder conflict, out-of-school children, poverty, illegal mining, kidnapping, unemployment, and deforestation. The governors have put the merchant of conflict out of business because the IDP camps in the region are getting empty day by day, pupils are returning to school, farmers have returned to their farms, and most communities have returned to their earlier peaceful social settings, with more opportunities being opened for people to enhance their wellbeing.

The Northeast governors are engaging critical stakeholders for the development of the region in their efforts to stand together and move together to put the six states on the right pedestal of development. A simple example is Adamawa State, where Governor Fintiri was able to change the ugly narratives in the area of social order in the post-insurgency period. For instance, the Fintiri Wallet, a social investment programme providing capital for small businesses among youth and women, has successfully freed many families from the prison of poverty and provided productive jobs to young people and women, especially in the areas affected by the insurgency.

The First Northeast Governors Forum meeting took place in Gombe in 2020, and the forum has consequently produced encouraging results indicating the worthiness of this course. Now the northeast speaks with one loud, clear voice and is being heard. In Yola, the six governors resolved to continue cooperation among the six states and fight climate and environmental degradation. The governors call on the Federal Ministry of Works and relevant federal agencies to look at the poor federal infrastructure and energy in the region. They resolved to build 60 and 50 megawatts of coal and solar power plants in each of the six states. The governors appreciated the improved security situation in the region and resolved to work together and cooperate with all security agencies in the design of the security architecture in the region.

Ahmadu Fintiri congratulated the five of them for winning re-election and also for their victories at the Governorship Tribunals and the Court of Appeal, saying it’s a reflection that their people believe in them. For example, in Adamawa, after the much-heated April 15th 2023 rerun governorship election and the unfortunate incidents that happened during the election period, the state remained calm and progressive, and Governor Fintiri remained undeterred in his usual way of taking bold decisions

Zayyad I. Muhammad, Abuja