Yobe commissions new markets, roads to boost job creation, exports

• Targets full airport operation next year

The Yobe State government has commissioned new markets and roads.

It has also targeted full operation of its cargo airport next year, with a view to easing transportation of goods and services, and boosting exports.

Commissioner of Information, Abudullahi Bego, who recently led a two-day media tour to the commissioned projects, said the five markets strategically located at Nguru, Gashua, Potiskum, Geidam and Damaturu, the state capital, are targeted to boost job creation among youths and women.

He also said Governor Mai Mala Buni’s administration had embarked on several other road projects, including the 46-km Nguru-Balanguwa-Kunaganam and 10-km Chumbusko-Tagali roads.

Besides the linking of towns and communities, he said the roads will facilitate haulage of farm produce and livestock to markets and granaries.

On completion, Bego said the roads, and others across the state, will also reduce the wear and tear of trucks and other vehicles.

A site officer of Greyland Multiple Investment (GMI), the contractor handling the project, said the 64-km Gashua-Nguru highway will also serve various farming and herding communities in the Kumadugu/Yobe River Basin.

Corroborating the efficiency of road networks in the state, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Energy, Ishaka Lawan, added that they will also reduce the costs of transporting goods and services by 25 to 30 per cent.

He explained that the prices of goods in markets could also fall, depending on distances covered and the state of roads in Yobe.

Speaking on markets, Bego said the Nguru market, completed and commissioned by the governor, last year, has 500 lockup shops and an administrative block where the complaints of traders and other businessmen would be attended.

He noted that concerns about securing the market and its goods were over because security and other facilities had been provided.

The commissioner noted that the Potiskum Trailer Park completed at the cost of N2.8 billion, will assist in the haulage of goods along the Kano-Damaturu-Maiduguri highway and boost border trade with Chad, Cameroon and the Central African Republic.

Expressing his excitement on the project, a trader, Hamidu Isa, said trading in Nguru has been made easy with the provision of shops and market stalls amid tight security against thieves and vandals.

Besides easing commercial activities, he added that traders from Yobe need not travel to Kano, Lagos and Kaduna to procure wares and other goods for customers.

“What we do now is place orders for the wares and (have them) delivered to us,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ishaka Lawan expressed optimism that the completed Muhammadu Buhari International Cargo Airport, Damaturu, inaugurated by former President Buhari in January 2023, will commence full operations next year.

He disclosed that the Buni administration spent about N9 billion procuring a critical navigation system, which will facilitate massive production of sesame seeds, gum Arabic and livestock, including cattle for exports to Europe and the Middle East.

He explained that the system at the end points of the 4.1km runway had been installed ahead of a test run for smooth landing and take-off of any cargo aircraft.

“The airport has reached 95 per cent completion. The remaining five per cent is the installation of lighting on one of the best tarmacs in the country.

“We’re awaiting for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for an order to install the runway lightings.

“By the end of this year, aircraft will be landing and taking off with cash crops, including sesame seeds, gum Arabic and packaged livestock meat for exports,” he said.