The Government’s Commitment to Private Investment
Yobe State’s economic strategy is built around one idea: grow the private sector, and the rest follows. The government’s focus is on creating the conditions — infrastructure, incentives, skills, and regulatory clarity — that allow businesses to start, grow, and stay.
The key pillars of that strategy:
• Promoting small and medium-scale enterprises with strong links to Yobe’s agricultural sector.
• Developing an Export Processing Zone to expand access to cross-border and international markets.
• Building skilled and semi-skilled labour through state-run acquisition centres.
• Facilitating access to credit through financial intermediation services.
• Offering concrete incentives for private sector participation — including free industrial plots, waived land development charges, tax concessions, and ready-made feasibility studies.
• Investing in research and development to strengthen the state’s industrial base over time.
The Yobe Investment Company (YICL)
To back its investment ambitions with capital, Yobe State established the Yobe Investment Company Limited — YICL. The company finances and promotes small, medium, and large-scale projects across manufacturing, commerce, financial services, and other productive sectors.
YICL currently holds a portfolio spanning 26 quoted companies and 15 unquoted companies within and outside the state.
What YICL Offers Investors
• Investment information and sector expertise.
• Monitoring and management of government investments in public companies.
• Company secretarial and legal services.
• Free financial and technical advisory — including feasibility studies — for companies in which YICL has invested.
What YICL Looks for in a Project
YICL invests in limited liability companies where the project is technically feasible, commercially viable, and self-sustaining. The project sponsor must demonstrate integrity and contribute a portion of the equity capital. Projects must support economic development through employment creation or import substitution, and must be assured of competent management. YICL will hold at least one board seat in any company it invests in.
Why Yobe Makes Sense
The case for investing in Yobe is not built on promises. It is built on geography, resources, and policy.
• Strategic location — Strategic location — Yobe borders Cameroon, Chad, Niger, and four Nigerian states, putting investors at the centre of a significant cross-border trade corridor.
• Agricultural output — Agricultural output — The state produces groundnuts, cattle, fish, rice, maize, wheat, cowpea, sesame, and soya beans in commercial quantities.
• Dedicated Gum Arabic belt — Dedicated Gum Arabic belt — A nationally significant and globally traded commodity, available at scale.
• Solid mineral deposits — Solid mineral deposits — Diatomite, Bentonite, Gypsum, Limestone, Uranium, Potash, and Silica sand, among others.
• Over one million hectares — Over one million hectares of land reserved for livestock production.
Incentives Available to You
Both the Federal Government and Yobe State Government offer a range of incentives designed to reduce your cost of entry and protect your investment once it is in place.
Federal Government — Fiscal Incentives
• Pioneer status
• Tax relief for research and development
• Local raw material utilisation benefits
• Export-oriented industry incentives
• Investment allowances in economically disadvantaged areas
• Reinvestment allowance
Federal Government — Non-Fiscal Incentives
• Investment guarantee
• Guarantee against expropriation
• Access to land
• Export incentives
• Capital allowance on depreciation
• Special Economic and Industrial Zones
Yobe State Government — Additional Incentives
• Fast-tracked land acquisition applications.
• State-level tax relief.
• Provision of roads, water, and electricity infrastructure.
• Direct access to export markets through borders with three countries.
• A large pool of graduates available as skilled labour.