Public officials often travel abroad and return with photographs. Dr Mohammed Goje, the Secretary to the State Government, returned from New York with something Yobe can use.
At the Unstoppable Africa 2026 forum on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly, Dr Goje asked Aliko Dangote how state governments and private companies could invest in shares for widows and conflict victims, so that they are not left dependent on endless cycles of relief. It was a sharp question, shaped by what Yobe has lived through. Mr Dangote’s answer was encouraging: the Aliko Dangote Foundation would work with state governments to help widows and vulnerable women own shares in the refinery.
The next day, Dr Goje took the same agenda to Vice President Kashim Shettima, who led Nigeria’s delegation, and briefed him on Yobe’s investment missions and development strategy under Governor Mai Mala Buni. He did not treat the trip as a ceremony. He used a public forum and a private meeting to push one clear idea.
Now there is a result. Governor Buni has approved ₦230.62 million to buy shares for 43,928 vulnerable women across the state’s 17 Local Government Areas. According to the Governor’s Director-General of Press and Media Affairs, Mamman Mohammed, this followed the engagements Dr Goje led in New York.
Credit is due. A question asked in New York has become a budget in Yobe in a matter of weeks. And the idea behind it matters: a woman who owns shares is more than a beneficiary. She has a stake in the economy.
But a good start only raises the standard. Dr Goje has put his name to this idea, and Yobe will judge him by what follows. The women must be chosen openly, so the well-connected do not take their place. Each beneficiary should hold her shares in her own name and have proof she can show. And the state should be ready to say how the money was spent and who benefited.
If that is done, Dr Goje’s question will be remembered as one that changed lives. If it is not, it will be just another good speech. Yobe’s widows and conflict-affected women deserve the first outcome.
Muhammad Kukuri is a writer from Yobe State, with keen interest in Nigerian politics and journalism. He can be reached at 07062733187, mohkukuri@gmail.com.
