N/East and the emerging Development Commission

TAIYE ODEWALE writes on the destruction of lives and property in the North-east orchestrated by Boko Haram  insurgents, as presented by a delegation of leaders from the zone to the National Assembly, led by Governor Kasheem Shettima of Borno state

Arguably before now, especially within the last six years what usually comes to the mind of any Nigerian whenever the geographical expression, North-eastern part of Nigeria is mentioned, is the Boko Haram insurgency, which no doubt, devastated a large portion of the area particularly Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
These were more or less, the operational theatre of the insurgents apart from the three other states namely Gombe, Bauchia and Taraba, also affected in one way or the other.

At the height of the insurgency in these states, there was also  spillover effect to some other places in the North like Kano, Kaduna, Jos in Plateau state, Okene in Kogi State , Suleja and Madalla in Niger state and, of course, Abuja the capital city of Nigeria.
Not only were governmental activities in many of the local governments within the three states used as operational theatre of the insurgency by the mindless Boko Haram terrorists grounded but thousands of human lives and millions of properties owned by government and private individuals were destroyed.
The worth of this loss is now put at $9.6billion, a figure put by no less a person than the man at the centre of gravity of the insurgency , the Executive Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima.

Kashim Shettima who made the disclosure last week Wednesday when he led leaders of the zone to the National Assembly on a thank you visit to the federal lawmakers for conceiving and passing for third reading, the North East Development Commission Bill (NEDC).
Shettima said out of the $9.6billion worth of properties destroyed by the insurgents across the six states in the zone, Borno state alone suffered property loss worth $6.7billion.
He said:” In the northeast alone, destruction worth $9.6 billion dollars were inflicted on us from Borno, Adamawa, Yobe,  Gombe, Taraba and Bauchi. Just to give you simple statistics; in Borno we suffered destruction worth $6.7 billion dollars.
“Out of it 956,453 units of houses making 30 per cent of the total sum of houses in Borno were destroyed. 5,335 classrooms in 501 primary school, 38 secondary schools and 2 tertiary institutions of learning were destroyed.

“201 primary healthcare centres  and hospitals were destroyed. 650 municipal buildings including police stations, power plants and all the local government structures were destroyed and this is just a tip of the iceberg.”
He added that even before the huge loss from insurgency, the North East zone was proved to be the most neglected one out of the entire six zones.
His words: “Statistics have shown that federal institutions and infrastructure in the country have all proved that of the six geo-political zones, the northeast had suffered the most neglect.
“The Presidential Projects Assessment Committee established by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 and other reports like the one authored by the Chartered Institute of Project Management of Nigeria, all came to the conclusion that the northeast suffered the least attention from successive Federal administrations in Nigeria since independence”.

A submission earlier made by some other leaders  from the zone like the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, from Bauchi State, Chairman , Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Danjuma Goje , (APC Gombe Central) etc.
But the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, in his remarks during the visit, urged the North-east leaders to make the NEDC Work when finally assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari .
He specifically warned that the proposed commission should not be allowed to turn to what other similar commissions before it have turned to by not only failing in achieving the development – driven goals for which they were set up for , but  also serving as platform of acrimonies among peoples and communities  of the area they are set up to serve  as being  experienced with the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

His words: “We all knew the situation in the Northeast.  I am very happy with the progress we have made today as we play our own part to show that the National Assembly is truly behind the North-east in the restoration of peace, rebuilding the devastated areas and bringing life back to the region.
“A lot of us have personal experiences. I remember when I was in the private sector, commercial activities in those days in the north, after Kano, the second place you go to is Maiduguri. It is my hope and wish that that day will come back when commercial activities will again dominate Maiduguri and it is my hope and prayer that what has now befallen the region will never happen again.

“Since January 13, we have transmitted the NEDC Bill to the President and I have no doubt that he will assent to it looking at the public demand for it. If everything is done, I think the thank you, you can give all of us is that after the Bill becomes law, and the commission starts to work, that it will make a difference in the lives of the suffering masses;
“And that we will not come to this National Assembly and begin to set up a panel of investigation over what is happening in the commission. I say this with all seriousness. I don’t want to hear later from people asking us why you set up this commission.
“Or for them to say Instead of being a commission for development, a commission to halt degeneration or neglect, a commission to empower the people, it is now a commission for some of the experiences we are seeing in other commissions like the NDDC.

“And I want to plead with our leaders and elders here, the youths, our women and those who are watching that we make a pledge and commitment to ourselves that the journey and the sacrifices that everybody has made to make this Commission come into existence, that we the leaders from Northeast, not just those who will be appointed to the Commission, all of us have a responsibility to make sure the resources bring the best to our people in the Northeast.
“This I think will be the biggest thank you can give all of us and I pray that the Almighty Allah will allow you at this time to do so for ll of us that are here”..
Prominent among members of the delegation included the Governor of Adamawa State, Jibrilla Bindow, Shehu of Bama, Emirs of Askira, Mubi, Fika and Gujba; Professor Jibril Aminu, Senator Jonathan Zwingina, Sen. Grace Bent, former Governor of Adamawa, Boni Haruna, Alhaji Mohammed Bunu, Chairman,  House of Representatives Caucus of the North East,  Hon. Tahir Monguno etc.