By Sadiq Abubakar
Maiduguri
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has assured Nigerians, particularly, the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and development partners and international donor agencies that the federal government was determined to build capacity that “will coordinate, communicate and rehabilitate the ravaged communities in the North-east.”
Osinbajo stated this yesterday in Maiduguri while declaring open a two-day North East Humanitarian Multi Stakeholders Engagement (NEHMSE) 2015 Forum.
The Presidential Committee on North East Intervention (PCNI) had proposed a budget of N233 billion for the shot, immediate and long-term post Boko Haram insurgency reconstruction and rehabilitation of the communities ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgents in the region.
PCNI chairman, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd), disclosed this when Osinbajo declared open the workshop themed: “Coordination, Communication and Cooperation.”
Damjuma, who was represented by PINE’s Alhaji Mohammed Danjuma, said the carnage in the North-east required “proper coordination, cooperation and communication to alleviate the sufferings of the IDPs and the reconstruction of destroyed communities.”
Osinbajo said: “We are in Maiduguri to show humanity and gave milk of human kindliness to our brothers and sisters whom for six years have been ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency killing, maiming and abducting innocent people.”
He urged the participants to brainstorm “properly and come out with a formidable framework on the intervention marshal plan implementation for the ravaged communities and displaced people who have the right to live and work in our land, but the evil threatened them.”
Also speaking, the United Nations (UN) Country Representative, Miss Ratti Ndlovu, said: “Nigeria has the capacity to restore the shattered lives of the IDPs and reconstruct their destroyed communities, so that they go back and continue with their normal lives.”
In his remarks, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno state said: “In the drive to restore life back to the destroyed communities, the state government has created a ministry of rehabilitation and reconstruction, which has since commenced the reconstruction of destroyed towns of Benesheik, Auno and Jakana in Kaga and Konduga local governments, respectively.”
Earlier, the chairman, Borno State Emergency Management Agency (BOSEMA), Engr. Satomi Ahmed, commended the federal government for its intervention and management of the over two million IDPs within and outside the state.
NEMA’s Director-General, Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Sidi, said management of disasters whether natural or artificial is a challenge and noted that however the agency manages over two million IDPs across the North-east, with Borno state having 1.6 million.