By; JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has said that his administration is open to partnering the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) towards improving the agricultural and SMEs sectors.
According to a statement signed by the Director-General (Press Affairs)Government House Gombe, Ismaila Uba Misilli, the Governor stated this when he met with the Managing Director of NIRSAL Alh. Aliyu Abdulhamid in his office in Abuja.
He told his host that Gombe, being an agrarian state, is desirous of working with NIRSAL towards improving the agricultural economy, creating more employment and enhancing food security in the state.
” Agriculture remains a vital force in our strive for self-sufficiency, necessitating the introduction of several agricultural intervention initiatives in the state, including the one we are pursuing with NIRSAL”, Governor Inuwa stated.
He explained that the support and development of the agricultural sector are crucial to economic development, food security and sustainable livelihoods for the people of the state.
“We are determined to leverage on our comparative advantage in agriculture to unlock Gombe’s industrial potentials. It is to this end that we allocated about 250 hectares out of the 1000 hectares earmarked for the Gombe Industrial Park for the purpose of developing an Agricultural Industrial Cluster in order to provide room for enhancement of the agriculture value chain,’’ the governor stated.
The collaboration with NIRSAL is also expected to benefit cooperative societies in Gombe through their clustering into segments of the agric value chain for enhanced productivity and profitability.
At the end of the visit, it was agreed that a technical meeting with Gombe State officials led by the Governor and the NIRSAL team will hold soon with a view to fine tuning areas of collaboration and cooperation.
