Zamfara State to celebrate 30th anniversary despite security challenges
By IBRAHIM KANOMA, Gusau
According to him, activities would continue on October 2 with the commissioning of the renovated Block C of the J.B. Yakubu Secretariat Complex and the remodelled Malam Sambo Dan-Ashafa Jumu’at Mosque (Yar Dole).
The Zamfara State Government has unveiled a series of programmes and activities to mark the 30th anniversary of the creation of the state, despite the security challenges confronting the state.
Addressing journalists on Wednesday September 30, 2026 at his office on preparations for the anniversary, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Abubakar Nakwada, said Zamfara had every reason to celebrate its achievements over the past three decades.
He said the anniversary activities would commence on Thursday, October 1, 2026, with an event at the Trade Fair Complex in Gusau, followed by a state banquet dinner in the evening.
According to him, activities would continue on October 2 with the commissioning of the renovated Block C of the J.B. Yakubu Secretariat Complex and the remodelled Malam Sambo Dan-Ashafa Jumu’at Mosque (Yar Dole).
He said the projects would be commissioned by the Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, CFR, mni, and the former Zamfara military administrator.
Nakwada added that a stakeholders’ engagement would be held on October 3, bringing together former governors of Zamfara State, their deputies and other relevant stakeholders.
The SSG said the anniversary was not merely about counting 30 years, but about connecting the state’s history with a renewed trajectory of transformation.
He said the first 27 years of Zamfara’s existence laid different layers of the state’s foundation, while the last three years had focused on consolidating those foundations, confronting accumulated development deficits, strengthening security and public institutions, rebuilding human capital, revitalising agriculture and creating new economic opportunities.
“It is particularly symbolic that as Zamfara turns 30, commercial flights will commence into its capital,” he said.
Nakwada said the state was not only celebrating its achievements but also working towards securing communities, returning farmers to their lands, modernising agriculture and improving access to education.
He said the government was also strengthening healthcare, modernising governance, opening new economic gateways, unlocking the value of the state’s natural resources and creating new opportunities for its people.
He stressed that as the state honoured its past, its greater responsibility was to the future, ensuring that reforms, infrastructure, institutions and investments being established translated into lasting opportunities and an improved quality of life for future generations.
The SSG acknowledged that Zamfara had endured years of banditry, kidnapping and disruption of rural livelihoods, stressing that restoring security remained fundamental to rebuilding communities, returning farmers to their lands, reopening economic opportunities and restoring public confidence.
According to him, Zamfara @30 is therefore a celebration of the state’s history, a demonstration of ongoing transformation and a renewed commitment to building a more secure, food-secure, educated, healthy, connected, productive, inclusive, digitally enabled and prosperous state over the next 30 years.
“We invite the media, stakeholders and the good people of Zamfara State to participate fully and give these historic activities the coverage they deserve,” Nakwada said.
