In fulfillment of one of its mandate, the North East Development Commission (NEDC), on Saturday donated 38,000 bags of maize, rice, spaghetti, and nonfood items to the Borno state government for distribution to 66 repentant Boko Haram insurgents and their families as well as other victims of the insurgency undergoing rehabilitation and deradicalisation exercises at designated rehabilitation centers in the state.
While handing over the relief materials, the Managing Director/CEO, NEDC, Alhaji Mohammed Akali, noted that the items were donated as a support to the ongoing resettlement exercise of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from various IDPs camps to their ancestral homes and communities across the state.
Alkali said with the gradual return of peace to the North-east, it became necessary for the Commission to assist the North-east in having a seamless resettlement programme as part of the post insurgency rebuilding process.
He added that although federal government has constituted an inter-agency Committee to ensure seamless return of IDPs and repentant insurgents, the Commission deemed it necessary to provide palliatives to those in camps and newly resettled communities.
“We thought it very necessary to assist the state government in providing some palliatives in terms of food and non-food items so that those who are around especially those in the camps and those who have moved back to their domain or resettled somewhere should be assisted before the federal government effort should materialise” Alkali said.
The MD/CEO disclosed also that the Commission procured the food items from a food processing company in an effort to revive ailing industries in the region.
Receiving the items on behalf of the Borno state government, the Director General Borno state Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, thanked NEDC for the assistance while assuring that the intervention will go a long way in the resettlement of displaced persons back to their ancestral homes.
Hajiya Ya Bawa stressed that the state government is committed to the deradicalisation effort to ensure lasting peace is restored to Borno and the entire region.
According to her, the items presented include 10,000 bags of 25kg rice, 10,000 bags of maize grids, 4,000 cartons of spaghetti, 4,000 gallons of cooking oil, 5,000 blankets and 5,000 plastic mats.
