Despite the pockets of insurgency still being recorded in North-east, Borno state government is embarking on reconstruction as ABUBAKAR SADIQ writes.
Managing and controlling crisis had remained the big task before every administration in Borno state for the past 10 years with or without little progress despite the unrelenting support and concern of local, national and international bodies, organisations and wealthy individuals to cushion the lingering humanitarian crisis in the state that had even swallowed the entire North-east region and other neighbouring countries that share border with the state.It is already on record that Boko Haram insurgency, in the past 10 years, has caused severe suffering to the people and governments at different levels through the destruction of property worth billions of naira.
This also led to loss of lives apart from the destruction of million livestocks and high level wanton destruction of basic infrastructures belonging to individuals and governments.
It was a set-back against the programmes of reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement by governments supported by non-governmental organisations and international non governmental organisations, (INGOs), community-based organisations, (CBOs), civil socieity organisations, (CBOs Network), individuals and corporate organisations among other donors and philanthropists.
This brought to the fore the daunting challenges before leaders of the epic centre of insurgency which is Borno state government with over 20 LGAs out of the 27 captured and displaced by the insurgents until the military interventions which led to recapturing and recovery of all the local governments from the insurgents.
Effects of insurgency
Borno which was under the state of emergency became a no-go area and witnessed mass exodus of its citizens out of the state with many public and private organisations relocating their operational structures out of the state to neighbouring states and countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon Republics. The situation became worsened with the closure of international borders surrounding the state at the extreme northern part of the state which paralysed the privileges being enjoyed from the Shares Trade Zone from Central Africa.
The insurgency led to governments and private offices either closed or burnt down. Many public and private buildings set ablaze or vandalised. In many places, telecommunication masts are destroyed; offices, banks, police and settlements for security personnel and offices burnt or vandalised, hospitals, clinics and any other healthcare centres either burnt down or vandalised and property looted by the Boko Haram fighters.
Socio-economic and political activities were truncated everywhere in the state leaving Maiduguri city as the only safe haven and even at that, not more than five kilometres away from the city, the insurgents had surrounded it thereby blocking all routes linking to and out of Maiduguri from the north south, east except for Maiduguri-Damaturu highway as the only entrance and exit point.
According to records, Maiduguri has over 17 million people from the displaced 20 LGAs whose majority are from the Borno Central and Borno North respectively. The northern and central part of the state are predominantly occupied by Muslims who are Kanuris and shuwàs; they are politically regarded as the majority group, but the southern part of the state is predominantly occupied by the Christians who are Babur, Kanakuru, Bura and Margi ethnic groups who are regarded as the minority group of the political arena of the state.
The onslaught of the insurgents made both the state and federal governments to set up SEMA and NEMA to address the issues of providing refuge camps and centres and food items to alleviate the sufferings of displaced people of which the governments alone cannot accommodate but with the support and cooperation of all and sundry including private and public, governments and non governmental, individual or corporate organisations.
Zulum’s proposal
Governor Zulum has therefore noted severally that if there is no peace, there would not be development. As such, he had consistently appealed to the military to ensure a peaceful return of IDPs back to their various host communities in all the 27 LGAs to continue their normal life and engage in their usual farming and fishing occupations.
With this agenda put in place, apart from the over 200 patrol security vehicles his administration procured and distributed to security agencies in the state, he had made it a duty to overhaul the entire education sector of the state which informed the highest sectoral budgetary allocation given to education in the 2020 budget appropriation bill which is before the state House of Assembly receiving speedy deliberation, amendments and passage.
Similarly, the governor in his proposal for the state next year gave priority to the health sector where the sector became the second highest sectoral budget allocation next to agriculture indicating that his 10-point agenda intends to touch the lives of the people at all the nooks and crannies of the state with the view to returning the paralysed socio-economic activities of the state back to life and boost the age-long commercial acivities at the border towns and some major towns and cities within the vicinity of the famous Sahara Trade Zone. This was where Borno plays a greater role from which it generates high revenue.
To address the root cause of insurgency, Zulum had severally mentioned that his government is willing to commit enough funds to create more job opportunities for the unemployed youths and women in order to alleviate the sufferings and hardships of the IDPs and vulnerable persons through skills acquisition schemes training and re-training exercises where over N300 million have been invested in procuring equipment and tools while trainers and training facilities would be engaged in 2020 in each zone.
With this step, he said zonal poverty alleviation training centres would be constructed and located in the three senatorial districts of Borno south, north and central to address youths unemployment and women empowerment in addition to the special education schemes for the disabled persons and skills acquisition for the other youths. This also includes training for the civilian joint task force (CJTF), vigilant hunters and school drop outs among others.
According to Governor Zulum, 2020 would be a year of socio-economic reform and development for the state in collaboration with security agencies where even the three LGAs of Kukawa, Marte and Abadam at the extreme north of the state still suffer from Boko Haram threats and closure of roads as well as restriction of movements within neighbourhoods.
Billions of naira have also been budgeted for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Maiduguri-Mafa-Dikwa-Gamboru-Ngala road to open the international border and trade similar to that of Maiduguei-Bama-Banki road for people to access the usual Central Africa and Cameroon Republic trade which for almost three years has been a shadow of illegality and other side of the midnight.
It would be recalled also that for the first time, Govenor Zulum challenged the minister of defence, Major Genetal Bashir Magashi (rtd), Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Yusuf Buratai and Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Abubakar Sadiq Baba, to reopen all roads linking the southern and northern Borno which the military closed due to several Boko Haram attacks along the roads in the past with assurances that his government would support and assist the military to clear all the reminants of Boko Haram from their hideouts including those at the shores of Lake Chad Basin shores.
