THOSE who are not familiar with that part of the country and are taking their first trip along that road are in for a pleasant surprise. The surprise is in the form of an edifice, a type that is innovative in that area.

On Bauchi Road, on the outskirts of the capital city of Gombe State is the Gombe International Conference Centre, or Gombe ICC, a project conceived and implemented by the state government under the leadership of Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo as governor. When Governor Dankwambo assumed office in 2011, he undertook a helicopter view of the affairs of the state, and decided on areas of priority interventions. First, as he disclosed in an interview, he called a conference of the state’s stakeholders to decide the future of Gombe. His words:

Faces of Gombe International Conference Centre.

“When I came, just like the coming of Mr President, people expected a lot from me and the resources were not there. So I called an assembly of all Gombe people and said politics is over, now we have to meet as Gombe people and define our future, irrespective of religion, politics and profession; everybody will do what he/she can do and offer the best for the state. We had eleven sector committees mainly on agriculture, finance, women, works, health, all the sectors. We gave them mandate and time-frame to develop a document that will serve as foundation for the development of Gombe State.”

One of the take-aways from the work of that committee was the conceptualisation of the GOMBE International Conference Centre, ICC, announced on March 16, 2013, after a proper appraisal of the feasibility and value-added to the state of such a project.

The need for the ICC is further underscored by the fact that Gombe is strategically located in the centre of the North-East geo-political zone, plus the fact facilities of this kind are lacking in the zone.

Employment opportunities

Thus, until there are future developments, Gombe aims with the ICC project to be the conference and exhibition hub of the North-East. The foundation for the ICC was laid by former speaker of the House of Representatives, and incumbent governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal.

According to the Dankwambo government, the Gombe ICC is designed to serve as an economic (revenue generation) facility. It is expected to create more employment opportunities and create numerous commercial activities within the state. Facilities inside the international conference centre include rental exhibition cubicle, bar rental area with seating capacity of 144, cake kiosk, all on the ground floor of the eastern wing. It also has a meeting room with 310 seating capacity, and another meeting room with 20 seats capacity, a boardroom with 25 seating capacity, and another meeting room with 120 seating capacity in the first floor of the eastern wing. In the ground floor of the western wing, the conference centre comprises a multi-purpose hall with 1,500 seating capacity, one business centre, two rental shops, one rental exhibition area, one rental ATM cash machine, one rental and kitchen service area among others.

The first floor of the conference centre consist of two rental cafeteria lounge, one rental ATM machine, one restaurant/banquet with 150 seating capacity, one seminar hall with 150 seating capacity and another seminar hall with 100 seating capacity. The second floor also has a seminar hall with 100 seating capacity, another seminar hall with 150 seating capacity, and another hall with 120 seating capacity making the conference centre large enough to accommodate any kind of local, national or international gathering. This is aside from the external features that have many state of the art facilities and enough space for people and their cars. As a result, the state pins much hope on the ICC to create more jobs and help develop the state’s fledgling hotel industry as it hosts conferences and exhibitions.