…As team lead commends Gombe Govt for laying solid industrial base for sustainable development
In continuation of its study tour to Gombe State, participants of Course 34 of the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja, were today at the State Industrial Cluster in Nasarawo Quarters, Gombe.
The Commissioner for Trade and Industries, Alhaji Muhammad Nasiru Aliyu, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Jidaya Abba, and the leadership of the Rice and Oil Millers Associations received and conducted the visitors around the small-scale industrial hub.
Explaining the concept of the Industrial Cluster, Alhaji Muhammad Nasiru Aliyu said the major objective is to stimulate entrepreneurship and industrial businesses at the grassroots level.
The Commissioner also informed the visiting Course 34 participants of the National Defence College that the initiative is anchored on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement, with the State Government providing critical infrastructure such as land, electricity, water, and road networks, while investors provide funds, machinery, and workforce.
He further explained that the government deliberately encouraged the establishment of the Industrial Cluster to create job opportunities, noting that over 30,000 young people are currently engaged in both direct and indirect jobs.
Alhaji Nasiru also disclosed that it is in furtherance of the government’s commitment to industrialisation that the Muhammadu Buhari Industrial Park is being established.
Reacting to the level of economic activities going on at the Industrial Cluster, the team lead of Course 34 of the National Defence College, Brigadier General Olumide Ojo, expressed delight that the Gombe State Government is looking into the future by laying a solid industrial base for sustainable development.
General Ojo noted that aside from the value chain and robust economic engagement in the cluster, the growing number of youths being empowered remains key to the peace of the state, adding that keeping young people engaged minimizes the tendency to participate in vices inimical to security.
He commended Gombe State for its foresight, which he described as worthy of emulation by other states.
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Photo credit: Ibrahim De-Nice
