From Umar Dankano Yola
The Adamawa state All progressives Congress APC party gubernatorial candidate, Tijjani Ahmad Galadima has officially flagged off his 2027 guber-election campaign pledging to consolidate on the laudable achievements recorded by Incumbent Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri’s led administration.
Galadima made the pledge at a press conference held in Yola on Wednesday at the flag off event stressing that his incoming administration if elected would pursue a fundamental shift from an economy heavily dependent on federal allocations to one driven by production, enterprise, investment and innovation.
Galadima attested that Governor Fintiri has changed the fortune of the state due to his modest contributions to the development recorded under his over seven years stewardship which someone like him who would continue on the benchmark achieved.
Galadima argued that Adamawa could not remain indefinitely dependent on allocations from Abuja, noting that a state without sufficient economic activity of its own would have limited choices in financing development.
He mentioned that the economic blueprint of his era would be an aggressive transformation of agriculture from subsistence production into a major industrial value chain.
He identified Adamawa’s land, water, livestock, mineral resources, youthful population and entrepreneurial citizens as assets capable of powering what he described as the “second transformation” of the state.
The candidate promised to establish agro-industrial hubs across the three senatorial zones, linking farming communities with processing facilities, storage, packaging, electricity and logistics.
He said the plan would also encompass expanded irrigation, agricultural extension services, mechanisation and stronger value chains around rice, maize, groundnut, cotton, soybeans, sesame, cassava and livestock.
Galadima maintained that Adamawa must stop exporting raw agricultural commodities while allowing other locations to capture the greater value created through processing and marketing.
“We must change that economic structure,” he said, arguing that retaining more value within the state would create jobs, increase purchasing power, stimulate businesses and ultimately strengthen government’s capacity to finance development.
The APC governorship candidate Galadima, has also promised to reposition the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) by expanding economic opportunities rather than imposing additional tax burdens on citizens noting that his revenue strategy would not be anchored on squeezing already struggling citizens.
He explained that the state could expand its revenue base by creating an environment where farmers, entrepreneurs, investors and businesses could thrive.
“We will not tax poverty. We will grow prosperity,” Galadima said, stressing that increasing the state’s IGR must be achieved through economic expansion rather than heavier taxation.
He said his ambition was to build an Adamawa increasingly defined not by what it receives, but by what it produces.
“Together, let us move from potential to productivity, from productivity to prosperity, and from prosperity to dignity,” he declared.