By Sadiq Abubakar
Maiduguri
General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has listed three areas his administration would accord top priority in the North-east, the first being ending the Boko Haram insurgency and bringing stability in the zone.
He said he would also focus on re-activating the Lake Chad in addition to deploying enormous resources to resume vigorous search for oil along the Chad Basin in parts of Borno state, and in the entire North-east.
Buhari stated this at his residence in Kaduna on Sunday while responding to requests made by Governor Kashim Shettima, the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai Elkanemi, and some elders of the state who led a delegation from Borno state to paya congratulatory visit to him.
Buhari said he was very much aware of the problems of the North-east and would not waste time in taking them up one after the other.
He said his administration would enhance collaboration with neighbouring governments of Chad, Niger and Cameroon to curtail the trans-border movement of Boko Haram insurgents, cut supply of arms, cut recruitment and training of fresh recruits.
He said the stability of the North-east was a must project for his administration, stressing, “Nothing can be achieved unless peace is restored to the troubled region.”
The president-elect also assured the delegation that the receding of Lake Chad would be addressed through the transfer of water from the Central African Republic (CAR) to the lake to boost its commercial activities for fishing and irrigation farming.
He recalled that he once read a document raising fears about the receding of the lake which he handed over to the then President, Olusegun Obasanjo, but now that he was coming as president, he would handle the matter.
Buhari said the Lake had the potential to create millions of jobs through irrigation and many other commercial uses it was associated with many years ago.
While acknowledging delays in oil exploration activities in the Chad Basin, the president-elect said he was very much aware of exploration activities in the area since 1978 when he served as Minister of Petroleum.
He said he had visited a site in Borno state as a Head of State to assess exploration activities.
He maintained that he was very conversant with the issue and would take it up as president when he settles in office.
Buhari said he had many years ago suggested the need to take the search for oil in the North seriously and not only to increase the export potentials on Nigeria, but also to balance cross-regional perceptions and manage agitations in order to enhance the stability of the country.
He promised to pay special attention to the economic potentials of the North-east in order to make it attractive for investments.
Governor Shettima, who led the delegation consisting of all traditional rulers, elders, elected National and state Assembly members and other stakeholders from the state, had earlier said that they were at the residence of the president-elect to congratulate him over his historic victory at the polls and to also remind him of the problems affecting Borno state, which he already knew.
The governor said the people of Borno felt so much attached to Buhari, given his background as someone that served as military governor in the state.
He said the indigenes looked up to him with so much hope as he was very much familiar with the problems of the state and how it had suffered in the last six years owing to massive killings of its people and extreme destruction of communities and public institutions.
Shettima pleaded with him to pay special attention to the affairs of the state.
The Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai Al Amim El-Kanemi, in his remarks, appealed to the president-elect to consider making the federal government to take over the welfare of youth volunteers fighting insurgency in the state.
He noted that the state government had been spending so much on that in addition to the huge expenditures in managing the insurgency “besides spending on capital projects and payment of salaries of workers.”
The monarch also appealed for Buhari’s intervention on resumption of commercial airlines to the Maiduguri international airport, which was suspended almost two years ago.
Chairman of the Borno Elders Forum, Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, expressed optimism that with Buhari’s track record of service, elders in the state “have so much faith in him to address the needs of Borno indigenes to move the nation foreword.”