THUR SEPT 03 2026-theGBJournal| The Yobe State Government has begun the final push to complete its 25-Year Development Plan, SDP 2050, as part of efforts to establish a long-term roadmap for sustainable economic growth, social inclusion and improved living standards across the state.
The plan, when finalized, is expected to provide a development framework extending beyond individual administrations, with clear priorities, measurable targets, financing strategies and implementation mechanisms to guide Yobe’s transformation up to 2050.
The development followed the inaugural meeting of the SDP 2050 Finalization Committee, chaired by the Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Mohammed Goje, who conveyed Governor Mai Mala Buni’s directive for the plan to be completed within eight weeks.
Dr Goje said Yobe could no longer afford to approach its long-term development through annual budgets, isolated projects and short-term programmes, stressing that the state needed a coherent framework capable of sustaining development across political and administrative cycles.
According to him, SDP 2050 is intended to serve as a development compass for the state by guiding resource allocation, setting measurable development targets, attracting investment and providing a common direction for government, the private sector and development partners.
He charged members of the committee to produce a plan that is “ambitious but realistic,” financially credible, measurable and capable of being translated into practical programmes and projects.
The SSG said the priorities identified in the 25-year plan must cascade into sector strategies, annual budgets, capital programmes and performance frameworks of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), ensuring that the long-term vision is connected to day-to-day government operations.
The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Hon. Mohammed Garba Gagiyo, described the exercise as an important step towards strengthening Yobe’s planning system and ensuring that government priorities translate into measurable and sustainable development outcomes.
Presenting the committee’s mandate, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Alhaji Bukar Kilo, mni, said the committee would validate and complete the existing draft, update sector strategies and targets in collaboration with consultants, strengthen implementation and monitoring arrangements, and facilitate wider stakeholder consultations.
He said the final document would be expected to meet the requirements of an evidence-based, fiscally realistic and investment-ready development plan, while remaining aligned with relevant national and global development frameworks.
The Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Muhammad Bashir Ibrahim, said SDP 2050 represents Yobe’s first comprehensive long-term development plan and builds on planning reforms introduced under YOSERA IV.
He explained that substantial groundwork had already been undertaken, including the establishment and capacity building of Sector Planning Teams across 11 sectors, extensive consultations with stakeholders, preparation of the draft plan and subsequent technical review by the State Technical Team on Finance and Development.
However, he identified several challenges that the final plan must address, including inadequate planning capacity and data management, weak coordination among sectors, gaps in monitoring and evaluation, limited financing, poverty and unemployment, infrastructure deficits and weak integration between long-term planning, sector strategies and annual budgets.
The committee noted that the finalization exercise would therefore go beyond editing the existing draft.
It will involve strengthening the plan’s results framework, developing realistic cost and financing models, prioritising and sequencing investments, establishing measurable targets.
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