Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative (PCNI) on Thursday visited the reclaimed town of Bama, Borno state, where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were returning after three years of displacement.
The PCNI team, led by its deputy chairman, Tijjani Tumsa, took a tour of the entire town after which it concluded that the ravaged town that is currently being rebuilt by a combined force of government and non-government actors, still needs more support to fully bounce back.
Tumsa, who led in the tour of the battered community, met with some of the 73 ward heads of Bama, who he assured of federal government’s support to palliate their sufferings.
The villagers had listed food, cash grants for business, agricultural implements and the repair of the badly damaged Bama-Maiduguri road, as some of their most pressing needs.
The PCNI team had earlier paid a courtesy call on the Emir of Bama, His Royal Highness, Kyari Ibn El-kanemi, in his temporary Maiduguri abode where the top monarch pleaded for more intervention to enable the state government complete the rebuilding of his domain so as to speed up the return of his subjects to their homes.
The royal father thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the show of support to the troubled people of Borno, especially on the funding of the PCNI.
Tumsa, who represented the chairman of the PCNI, Theophilus Danjumma, told Premium Times in an interview in Bama that he was impressed with the progress of work done in the town, especially the rebuilding of public infrastructure which the PCNI had been funding.
He noted that PCNI has apart from supporting the full renovation of the Bama General hospital which used to be an IDP camp, the committee has also provided modern hospital equipment worth about a billion (N1,000,000,000.) that would soon be fitted as soon as the renovation work is completed.
“We have been in Bama on several occasions in the past, but today’s visit has to do with seeing how the returnees are settling back in their communities. I am very impressed with the commitment of the people to resettle back in their communities after many years of being outside.
“It is even more encouraging to note that the Borno state government and the PCNI are in sync with the commitment to resettling the people. And this development signifies, amongst other things that there has been success in the reclaiming of areas hitherto held by Boko Haram.
“So while we commend the military in doing excellent jobs, we will support the people in returning back by providing them with livelihood materials and also longer term plans that would sustain them,” he said.
