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From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The North East Development Commission, has disclosed that some of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), has disclosed that the activities of insurgents have resulted in scarcity of teachers in the North-east region because they remained the primary target of the Boko Haram terrorists.
The Managing Director of NEDC, Muhammed Alkali, made the disclosure at a ministerial briefing organised by the Presidential Media Team at the Presidential Villa.
The Commission also disclosed that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the northeast are also unwilling to return to their ancestral homes.
Alkali, while talking about the NEDC mandate in the region, said that the Commission prioritized the training of teachers in the region because their ranks have been substantially depleted.
He said “The scarcest product now, not only in Nigeria but elsewhere, is teachers. In the North-east, over 40-50 percent of teachers have either been killed or something has happened to the because tag of the insurgency is the Boko Haram and teachers are the instruments of this so called Boko Haram and they are the primary target of those people. Most of them have been killed or something must have happened to them. So, we need more teachers in the region.”
Responding to questions on the challenges of resettling IDPs back to their home communities torn apart by the Boko Haram insurgency, the agency’s Executive Director, Humanitarian Affairs, Musa Yashi, said that 20 to 30 per cent of displaced persons do not live in camps.
He explained that the IDPs have so integrated with their host communities that they saw no need to return to their original settlements, most especially when their homes have been destroyed by insurgents and it will take years to rebuild.
Citing the dismal condition of towns across Monguno, he argued that resettlement would require the reconstruction of whole communities; a task so daunting that the NEDC does not have enough funds to undertake at this time.
Alkali, said the Federal Government has concluded the construction of 1,000 housing units as part of the Federal Government’s resettlement efforts for millions of inhabitants displaced by the 13-year insurgency in Nigeria’s Northeast.
According to him, the 1000 houses were built in Ngwom, Borno, at the cost of N17.5 billion, saying the mass housing project includes two-bedroom flats built in clusters. The housing units have been handed over to the Borno State Government for distribution.
He added that there are plans to build 500 housing units in five other affected states.
Alkali also revealed that the NEDC has executed 647 projects ranging from agriculture, health, education, energy/power across 112 local government areas in the northeast, with each Local Government Area (LGA) gulping at least N50 million, accruing to N5.6 billion.
He noted that three bridges have been constructed in Kudzum, Dilechim and Wuro-Ngayandi areas of Adamawa State.
The MD argued that the lack of a sturdy education system in the Northeast has fueled the insurgency.
Alkali, explained that the commission is created an Education Endowment Fund with a seed capital of N6bn; with plans to dedicate 10 per cent of its annual allocation to the fund.
The NEDC was inaugurated by the PresidentMuhammadu Buhari (retd.) in 2017 to coordinate all humanitarian interventions by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies based on the Northeast stabilization masterplan.
To execute its mandate according to the northeast stabilisation and development masterplan in the next 10 years, Alkali said the commission requires at least N31.05 trillion.
The NEDC boss, also disclosed that the commission has internal mechanism in place to insulate it from draft.
Recall House of Representatives committee led by Hon. Tony Elumelu, had in July 2020, investigated N100 billion fund diversion from the commission.
But reacting to a question on what measures have being put in place to shield the NEDC from corruption, Alkali said the commission was created for a purpose and would ensure judicious utilisation of resources at its disposal and to actualize it’s mandate for the people.
“You see, these things have to do with institutional issues, individual issues, and so on and so forth. But, in our own case we know that we are created for a purpose, and at the end of the day we believe that posterity will judge us with what we have done with the mandate given to us.
“That is why we are very careful and very prudent in seeing that we propose and execute what we can do with the funds available. “Sometimes, yes, there could be political pressure, but always in the commission we are bent on following laid down procedures and see that we are guided by what is feasible and what is prudentially possible to achieve. And this is our commitment to the people of the northeast. We as a team now, we want to ensure that whatever is given to us is being protected for their benefit.”
