With the rebuilding efforts ongoing in the North-east, SADIQ ABUBAKAR reports on how NEDC as an intervention agency has been keeping its mandate for the region
President Muhammadu Buhari in January 2019 constituted the board of North East Development Commission (NEDC) with General Paul Chabiri Tarfa (rtd) and Alhaji Mohammed Alkali as chairman/managing director (CEO) respectively as well as three executive directors and six directors representing each of the six geo-political zones as well as a representative of Federal Ministries of Finance and Budget and National Planning.
After successful confirmation by the Senate, the board was inaugurated on May 8, 2019 with the responsibility of receiving and managing funds allocated by the federal government and international donors. This is with a view to resettle rehabilitate, integrate and constructe roads, houses and business premises for victims of insurgency and terrorism and also tackle the menace of poverty, illiteracy, ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the North-east states and related matters.
The commission was saddled with the responsibility of addressing developmental challenges in the region and restore means of livelihood of the people, following the effects of 13-year-insurgency as a result of activities of Boko Haram insurgency.
Investigations by experts revealed that the stock of houses in the North-east states before the insurgency was about 4 million, out of which over 500,000 structures (houses and commercial premises) were destroyed or irreparably damaged. Even before the insurgency, there was a housing deficit in all the states of the region. Therefore, the insurgency only further aggravated the situation. In all of this, Borno state, being the epicentre of the crisis, is worse affected with the largest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
NEDC intervention
It would be recalled that sometimes in 2019, because of the confidence he has on Dr Alkali, President Muhammadu Buhari approved a special Presidential intervention in Borno State (SPIB) in order to reduce the desperate situation that displaced communities in the state had found themselves through the construction of 10,000 houses and the establishment of Technical and Vocational Skills Acquisition Centres for the IDPs, amongst others. Towards the execution of SPIB, it was resolved that NEDC undertakes the construction of the first 1,000 houses and fully funded the equipping of the Technical and Vocational/Skills Centres around the state.
The commission constructed the first 1,000 houses at Ngowom village in Mafa local government area of the state and handed over the houses to the governor, Professor Baba Gana Zulum.
It also delivered a town with all social amenities; these are all the efforts of the commission to reflect on its mandate, and the decision to replicate same in the other five states of the region by the construction of 500 houses in each state while the commission started the construction of 500 houses to other states in the North-east. This started with Yobe state where the president performed the ground- breaking ceremony of constructing 250 houses in Damaturu, 50 in Buni Yadi, in Geidam 50 houses; in Potiskum, 50 houses; in Gashua, 50 houses; in Nguru, 50 houses.
The types of houses the commission built were of the cluster block style which consists of blocks of four units of 2-bedroom bungalows with veranda and courtyard. Each block sits on four hundred square metres with a fence separating each twin-facing houses with kitchens, toilets/bathrooms and ample space for home/domestic activities.
Additionally, the facilities were provided with street lights, reticulated water supply system, commercial spaces, among others.
Foodstuff.
NEDC has also impacted on the living condition of the internally displaced person’s and returnee IDPs in some LGAs communities of Borno state as part of the post insurgency rebuilding process where it donated 70,000 bags of foodstuff and relief materials to Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).
The relief materials facilitated the return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their ancestral homes across the state according to the managing director of NEDC, Alhaji Mohammed Alkali.
Presenting the items in Maiduguri, the MD disclosed that the items were for immediate distribution to IDPs in camps and host communities.
“Today, we are donating 10,000 bags each of rice and maize grits, 40,000 cartons of spaghetti and 4,000 each of blankets and mats,” he said, adding that the resettlement exercise would be implemented through an inter-agency approach in a dignified manner.
He further explained that the return of displaced persons complies with the Kampala Convention in a secure way while the director general of Borno SEMA, Yabawa Kolo, said the items would support the state government to resettle the IDP returnees.
She noted that the cooking oil and other condiments would enable women cook nutritious food to those in camps for over a decade.
Similarly, in fulfilment of one of its mandate, NEDC had on Saturday a fortnight ago donated 38,000 bags of maize, rice, spaghetti and non-food items to the state government (BOSG) for onward distribution to about 66 repentant Boko Haram insurgents and their families as well as other victims of insurgency undergoing rehabilitation and deradicalisation exercises at the designated rehabilitation centres in the state.
While handing over the relief materials to the state government, NEDC chief executive officer, Alhaji Akali noted that the items were donated as support to the ongoing resettlement exercise of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the various IDP camps to their ancestral homes and communities across the state by the government.
Assists resettlement efforts
Alkali said with the gradual return of peace to the North-east and efforts of the state government at resettling IDPs displaced by the insurgency in addition to the repentant insurgents who recently surrendered to troops, it became necessary for the commission to assist the entire region in having a seamless resettlement programme as part of the post insurgency rebuilding processes.
He added that although the federal government has constituted an inter-agency committee to ensure seamless return of IDPs and repentant insurgents, the commission deemed it necessary to provide palliatives to those in camps and the newly-resettled communities.
“We thought it very necessary to assist the state government in providing some palliatives in terms of food and non food items so that those who are around especially those in the camps and those who have moved back to their domain or resettled somewhere should be assisted before the federal government effort should materialise,” Alkali said.
The MD/CEO also disclosed that the commission procured the food items from a food processing company in an effort to revive ailing industries in the region.
While receiving the items on behalf of the state government, the director general, Borno state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) Hajiya Yabawa Kolo thanked NEDC for the assistance, while assuring that the intervention would go a long way in the resettlement of displaced persons back to their ancestral homes.
Hajiya Yabawa stressed that the state government is committed to the deradicalisation effort to ensure lasting peace is restored to Borno and the entire region.
According to her, the items presented include 10,000 bags of 25kg rice, 10,000 bags of maize grids, 4,000 cartons of spaghetti, 4,000 gallons of cooking oil, 5,000 blankets and 5,000 plastic mats.
