Timothy Olanrewaju Maiduguri
Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has announced September 26 for the resettlement of displaced victims of Boko Haram insurgency to their homes along the Lake Chad shores.
Zulum while inaugurating a committee for the resetlement of IDPs back to Baga, a fishing town in the northern part of the state, on Monday at Government House, Maiduguri, said he has secured the consent of the Chief of Army Staff to ensure smooth and safe resetlement of the IDPs.
“Following my visit to Baga on July 27 to assess the situation, i wrote a letter to the Chief of Army Staff on the need to resetle the IDPs and the army chief wrote back to us in agreement,” Zulum said. He said the assurance had made it possible to constitution the committee for the commencement of the resettlement exericise.
He assured that government would provide the funds to ensure the actualisation of the exercise.
“You should therefore work round the clock to meet the deadline of returning the people to their respective homes,” he charged the committee.
Chairman of the committee and Attorney General of the state, Kaka Shehu Lawan, assured that the committee would work tirelessly to meet the deadline. as it did not envisage major challenges in the course of its task..
The committee comprises the commissioners of Local Government and Emirate Affairs, Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (RRR); House of Assembly members;the army, navy, police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Civilian JTF, National and State Emergency Management Agencies, Northeast Development Commission (NEDC) and traditional leaders from the area.