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Chukwudi Nweje
The Federal Government has said it would replace the daily feeding of citizens in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps with a programme designed to make them self-reliant, known as ‘Project Reliance.’
Over 1.5 million IDPs are currently living in camps in Borno State, while another estimated 400,000 displaced persons have fled to neighbouring countries due to insurgency. Prior to the launch of the new programme, government was feeding those in IDP camps daily.
The daily feeding would now be replaced with Project Reliance, a collaborative empowerment programme between the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced People (NCFRMI) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Federal Commissioner of NCFRMI, Senator Basheer Mohammed, who disclosed this at the launch of the verification exercise for the project, yesterday, in Borno, said the project aims at making every displaced person in Nigeria self-reliant.
“In thinking out of the box, the commission came up with an idea that is more viable and dignifying in the long run. As the saying goes, give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a life time.
Therefore, through our passion and initiative towards the restoration of livelihoods of all displaced persons in Nigeria, together with the CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who has tremendously done well in reducing poverty through development finance in Nigeria, we established Project Reliance. As the name implies, Project Reliance is a programme geared towards making every displaced person in Nigeria self-reliant. This includes everyone who has lost their home, their livelihood and those who have sought refuge in the country,” he said.
He noted that the Post-Insurgency Recovery and Peace Building Assessment Report on the North East, jointly validated by the World Bank, European Union and Borno State government, indicated that the damage inflicted on the North East by Boko Haram was estimated at $9 billion, of which Borno alone accounts for $6 billion.
