As the Federal Government begins to implement its innovation and technology initiatives with the establishment of hubs in each of the six geo-political zones, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo announced on Thursday that Yola, Adamawa State would host the innovation hub for the North-East region.
Mr. Osinbajo, who spoke earlier on Thursday in Jimeta, at the commissioning of several road projects completed by the Adamawa State Government, expressed hope regarding the economy that “we are seeing a bright light at the end of the tunnel.”
Below is the speech of the Vice President at the event which was hosted by Governor Mohammed Jubrilla, and attended by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and the Minister of the FCT, Muhammadu Bello.
I am very pleased that I am in Adamawa State, the land of beauty and a State that will one day become Nigeria’s number one state!
I bring you very warm greetings from your great in-law and the President/ Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari.
It is an even greater pleasure to be here also to witness the great works of my brother, your governor, Senator Mohammed Umar Jubrilla Bindow. l see for myself that change has come to Adamawa and I am pleased to see also that peace has come even in places like Madagali, which was war-torn and several other places.
I am also pleased to witness peace and love that exists among the political leaders in Adamawa State.
His Excellency Wilberforce Juta, (former Gongola State Governor) made that point very clear that of the governor’s very many achievements, that of being a bridge-builder and a unifier is perhaps his most important attribute.
During the campaigns in 2014/2015, the President made it clear that he had three major objectives: security, corruption and economy. We have seen the successes in security and the fight against corruption and in the economy, we are seeing a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
A major concern of Mr. President is the issue of unemployment and even yesterday he was talking about what he could do in the short term to create more opportunities for the youths.
One of the programmes of our party and one of the programmes of government is the N-Power programme, which has10,000 spaces for young graduates in this state. l hope that many young graduates would be able to benefit from this scheme.
There is also the GEEP programme of Micro-Credit for market women, artisans, for vocational persons who have vocational skills. A lot of the micro-credit is now available and I am sure that in the next couple of months we would be able to benefit from it in this State.
We started a project with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the American University of Nigeria, Yola, and other institutions of higher learning on how we can use technology to solve the humanitarian problems in the North-East.
The Federal Government’s proposed innovation hub for the North-East will be here in Adamawa State in partnership with the American University and other institutions.
The first step will be a mega-fund working with the ICRC Global Innovation Team which will give an opportunity to the internally displaced persons to become active part of the process to provide solution to the problem they face every day using technology. This will give Nigeria an opportunity to work with international organisations to export innovative humanitarian solutions to other parts of the world.
But we are here today at the Faro junction to commission this state-of-the-art road network and this again is one of the major demonstrations of the excellent works the governor has been doing and I am exceptionally pleased to be associated with the success he has made in a very short time.
As have been said, l have been here now three times but now that l am the Jagaban of Adamawa State, l intend to get myself a small place here to live so that every once in a while l can come and spend my weekend and holiday here in Adamawa State.
I thank you all for your warm hospitality, let me borrow the words of Senator Jonathan Zwingina, “I Thank you very much indeed.”
