Governor Babagana Umara Zulum of Borno state said Thursday that over $6 billion has been lost in the last 13 years as a result of insurgency in the north-eastern part of the country.
The governor said this in Abuja at the weekly briefing organised by the Presidential Communications Team.
He said the insurgency that ravaged the zone was responsible for poverty and other challenges the North-East is currently facing.
“The insurgency has triggered acute humanitarian and post displacement crisis, devastating social and economic impact on the population, further deepening fragility and poverty in the North-East region.
“The outcome of the recovery peace building assessment by the World Bank, EU and UN reveal that a total sum of about $6.9 billion was lost as a result of the insurgency in the entire North-Eastern states. Out of this, Borno State accounts for over two-third.
“The insurgents have destroyed about 5000 classrooms in Borno State, about 800 municipal buildings have been destroyed including Local government secretariats, prisons, and traditional rulers’ buildings among others. Furthermore, they destroyed about 713 energy distribution lines and 1600 water sources.
“In addition to that, we harvested about 49, 311 widows and about 49, 917 orphans. These are official figures,” he said.
The governor also spoke on the successes recorded, saying there is gradual return of peace as a result of commitment and support from the federal government.
“In Borno State today, the gradual return of peace and the much reduction of cases of insecurity in Borno State and major parts of the North-East, have been attributed to the commitment and collaboration on the parts of the state and federal governments.
“One major reason why we have been succeeding in the North-East, particularly Borno State, is because there was never a time I requested to see the President and was denied access.
“This is something very important. Whenever I had serious security issues in Borno State, as soon as I land in Abuja, within the next 10-15 minutes on arrival, I will be granted access to the President and this has contributed a lot in ensuring the gradual return of peace and stability to Borno state,” he said.
He said a lot of resources have been ploughed into the processes of restoring peace in the state.
“Significant amount of resources has been injected into the implementation of the security strategies; financial, material, logistics and motivational,” he said.
He said the state government has shown great commitment in the relocation of displaced persons, with farming activities picking up now.
He thanked the federal government and security agencies for playing a big role in the peace process, stressing that the natives have also contributed their own quota towards the restoration of peace by volunteering intelligence.
“Honestly speaking, the Armed Forces of the Federal republic of Nigeria, the Police, the DSS and others are giving the desired collaboration to the government of Borno state.
“The first effort we made towards securing Borno State was through intelligence sharing, which is very important. We considered the communities’ participation as very important and the community-driven approach of re-establishing peace in Borno state has yielded positive results.
“We have our local intelligence, who normally provide feedback mechanism to the government and the military with a view to addressing the lingering insecurity in Borno State.,” he said.
The governor also told journalists that reported cases of vices and criminal activities led to the closure of some internally displaced persons camps in the state.
The governor, who disclosed that 18 displaced communities have since been resettled, commended the National emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Nigeria Customs Service (NIS), North-East Development Commission (NEDC) and the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management for their support.
