Four years ago, I wrote a piece titled “Adamawa Is Working Again (Who Off Light).” It was a story of rebirth, a state rising from the ashes of broken dreams, dusty roads, and despairing citizens. Today, I return not to retract, but to reaffirm: Adamawa is not just working again, it is shining brighter than ever under the watch of a leader who means business.
In a country where governance often mimics drama, lavish in promises, empty in delivery, Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri stands as a rare act of serious performance. Six years in, the Fresh Air administration has not just ticked boxes; it has rewritten the script. From infrastructure to education, health to security, economy to civil service reform, Adamawa has moved from an afterthought to a federal reference point.
And yet-yes, yet, there are those who refuse to see. Who pretend not to hear. Who boo at truth because it does not fit their bitterness. To them, I say: your ears are not blocked; you’ve just chosen not to listen. Your eyes work fine; you’ve just decided to look away. But facts, like light, are not subject to denial.
Let’s relight the torch and show them, again.
- Concrete Change: From Dusty Paths to Digital Blueprints
When Governor Fintiri promised infrastructural transformation, the skeptics rolled their eyes. Today, they drive across over 347 kilometers of new rural roads. Key among them are Yolde Pate-New Prison to Yadim, Parda Muninga-Fufore, Kwanan Yaji-Amdur, Longa Ewa-Wuro Yombe, Hong-Mujili-Kuva Gaya, Mayo Nguli-Manjaken-Salma, Numan-Bare, Shelleng-Bakta, Toungo-Kiri, Polewire-Ndikong, and Ngurore-Mayobelwa-Gongoshi. They cruise beneath four flyovers, navigate a cloverleaf, Grade-interchange, and marvel at the 8-lane Jimeta Expressway with its iconic Fire Service underpass.
There’s more: a superhighway linking Numan to Greater Yola, a modern stadium for sports and cultural renaissance, a remodeled shopping complex, and a new urban design ethos that puts Adamawa in a class of its own in the Northeast. The Mahmud Ribadu Square and adjoining roads have also been redesigned, giving the state capital a befitting civic space.
Across the 21 Local Government Areas, township roads once untarred and untouchable have been constructed and paved-connecting homes, schools, and markets to opportunity. Key among them are Zumo Street, Doctors Quarters Road, Mafia Quarters Road, Mbamba Street, Weekly Scope Road (now renamed Gambo Jimeta Road), Mustapha Ismail Extension, Dougirie Lane Road, Mayo-Inne Street, Jalingo Street Road, Lekki Tabba Street, Falu Road and Links, Old Government House Road and Links, Bachure Road (renamed Air Commodore David Jonah Jang Road), and Lagos Street Road (renamed Brigadier D.K. Dzirkushu Road). Others include ATV-Badarissa-NYSC Road, Mambila Street, Jambutu Street, Nepa Road, Benue Street and links, Vunoklang-N’Jabore Road, and Bekaji Housing Estate, among numerous others.
And unlike others who play the political game of “start and abandon,” Fintiri completed the 37.5 km Kiri-Shelleng Road, the 7 km Buwangal-Sangasumi Road, the 33 km Pella-Maiha Road, Yolde Pate Sabon Pegi Road, internal roads and stormwater drains in Adamawa State University, the 4-span bridge in Song, Mubi Township Roads Phase I, the old bypass road in Gombi, Manpaya Road in Uba, and Mayo-Inne and Lekki Tabba Streets in Jimeta. In Adamawa, no project is a pawn for ego.
- Governance That Reaches the Forgotten
Where insecurity once reigned in the far-flung corners of Adamawa, Governor Fintiri responded not just with force, but with foresight. The creation of new Emirates and Chiefdoms has brought governance closer to the grassroots, bridging the gap between the state and its most remote citizens. Ungoverned spaces now have traditional structures rooted in law, dignity, and communal oversight.
- Schools No Longer Sleep: The New Light of Learning
When a leader cancels school fees, pays for WAEC/NECO, revives boarding school feeding, and builds 5,000+ classroom blocks, that’s not optics, it’s nation-building.
- 80+ schools rehabilitated in underserved LGAs
- 2,000+ science teachers recruited and 699 reinstated
- 120+ students awarded foreign scholarships, giving them global visibility
- UBEC counterpart funds from 2015–date fully paid, unlocking FG support
- ADSU rejuvenated: convocation held for the first time since 2013; 5.3 km of internal roads rehabilitated
- New schools springing up across the state, including Model Schools in all 21 Local Government Areas and Mega Secondary Schools in each senatorial district.
This is not “political point-scoring”; this is the architecture of generational change.
- Health Is Now Wealth: No More Hospitals in Name Only
The Fresh Air administration brought breath back to healthcare:
- Eight cottage hospitals built; five general hospitals renovated
- Ten new health posts, two state-of-the-art labs, and 30+ VIP latrines established
- 17+ PHCs renovated, seven upgraded, 1,200+ new health workers hired
- Over 1,000 suspended workers reinstated, and 1,113+ technical staff recruited
- FintiriCare, a people-first health insurance scheme, launched for the most vulnerable
- Specialist Hospital Yola modernized with PPEs, incinerators, and high-standard logistics
Most notably, the Specialist Hospital in Yola now houses a state-of-the-art laboratory complex with 21st-century diagnostic machines and a functioning CT scan. The same transformation has reached Numan General Hospital, ensuring that cutting-edge diagnostics are no longer a luxury but a right.
- Security That Speaks Action, Not Press Statements
Adamawa today is not what it was in 2019:
- 60+ Hilux patrol trucks, 10+ Land Cruisers, and 30+ Innoson vehicles added to Operation Farauta
- Monthly stipends for vigilantes and local hunters in all 21 LGAs
- Mini Sambisa forest neutralized; notorious Shila Boys silenced
- 133 Cameroonian refugees repatriated and reintegrated with dignity
- Lamurde conflict resolved with the Governor’s direct intervention
Fintiri didn’t just “deploy operatives”, he deployed political will.
- Switching the Grid Back On: Power as a Development Tool
The lights came back, literally:
- Uba/Mishara (Hong LGA)
- IDP Camp Sangere/Jabbi Lamba (Girei LGA)
- Fadama-Rake (Hong LGA)
- Bahuli (Mubi North LGA)
- Kpasham, Bille, Dong (Demsa LGA)
- So’o and Mapeo (Jada LGA)
- Gorobi (Mayo-Belwa LGA)
- Michika and Madagali LGAs
- Tahau (Toungo LGA)
- Dumna (Guyuk LGA)
- 1×7.5 MVA substation completed; 6×500 KVA transformers installed
- 300 MW solar farm project underway, signaling Adamawa’s leap into energy innovation
- Mass Transit That Prioritizes the Poor
Through the introduction of subsidized Fresh Air Buses, Governor Fintiri has redefined public transportation. Operating at 50% fare rates, these buses are not just vehicles, they are social equalizers, ensuring students, workers, and rural dwellers can commute with dignity and affordability.
Those who shouted “who off light?” now whisper, “how is this even possible?”
- An Economy That Listens to the People
In a nation battling inflation and unemployment, Adamawa is empowering rather than lamenting:
- ₦50,000 grants to 100,000+ businesses, with another 40,000 queued for assistance
- 100,000+ youths trained in digital and vocational skills
- Creation of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Agency for Poverty Alleviation
- Launch of ADAS, targeting 750,000 direct and 1.5 million indirect agricultural jobs
And in Mubi, the economic story deepens with the construction of an international cattle market, positioning the region as a livestock hub for Nigeria and West Africa.
Between 2015 and 2025, Adamawa State witnessed a gradual economic rebound, with its Gross State Product (GSP) rising from an estimated ₦1.2 trillion in 2015 to over ₦2.1 trillion by 2025, driven largely by public infrastructure investments and agricultural productivity. Despite persistent security and climate challenges, unemployment in the state declined modestly from 34.6% in 2018 to approximately 27.9% in 2025, owing to targeted youth empowerment and rural enterprise initiatives.
- A Future in Conference and Culture
Work is underway on the Adamawa International Conference Center, a structure that will host global dialogues, national policy exchanges, and high-profile events, further placing the state on the international map.
- Civil Service Reforms & Housing for the Forgotten
This is what a people’s government looks like:
- 1,000 homes built in Malkohi, not for show, but for shelter
- Leave grants paid; wardrobe allowances given to ATV Yola staff
- ₦7+ billion in gratuities cleared (dating back to 2012)
- 376 civil servants wrongly dismissed reinstated
- A digital payroll system introduced to eliminate corruption, ghost workers, and payment delays.
- First state in Nigeria to implement the ₦30,000 and ₦70,000 minimum wage, not in words, but in action.
- Recruitment of 4,000 job seekers currently underway, tackling unemployment head-on.
This isn’t “tokenism”, this is dignity restored.
In Summary: The Scorecard of Light
To the Willfully Blind and Deliberately Deaf, This Light Is Not for You
Yes, there are those who will still ask, “What has he done?” The same voices that ignored the Second Niger Bridge till it rose from blueprint to concrete. The same cynics who danced at campaign rallies but never paid attention to rural electrification.
To them, I say: boo! Yes, boo to your selective outrage, to your bitterness disguised as analysis, to your deaf ears and blind eyes. Adamawa is rising, and no amount of deliberate ignorance can keep it down.
Final Note: From Rebirth to Renaissance
Six years on, Governor Fintiri has done what many dream but few dare: he has governed with conscience, executed with courage, and served with humility.
Adamawa was reborn in 2019. In 2025, it is reinvented.
The Fresh Air is no longer a breeze, it’s a windstorm of legacy.
Who off light? You did.
Who turned it back on? Fintiri did, and brighter than ever.
Foya Puja writes from Gorobi.
