The North East Development Commission (NEDC) in partnership with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the Organised Private Sector (OPS) has strategised to produce a master plan for the commission. According to the Commission, the master plan will identify the needs and adopt strategies and policies for the recovery, stabilization and development of the region. The 12-year Boko Haram insurgency has killed 46,000 people with destruction of property worth $9.2 billion (N3.42 trillion) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
Speaking at the consultative meeting with NE regional representatives of CSOs and stakeholders in Maiduguri, the Managing Director of NEDC, Mohammed Alkali disclosed: “Consultations with the relevant stakeholders are critical in getting their inputs before producing the master plan for the region. He listed 35 development fields in the various sectors, including security, reconstruction, education, housing, health and agriculture among others to be captured in the plan to be produced. “Today we have the right time for interaction on how to develop the master plan for the commission,” he said. He added that the stakeholders are to rank the identified sectors for implementation by the commission in the six insurgency affected states.
He declared that the implementation of the plan was to address the current challenges of sustainable development in the region. The master plan, according to him, will be holistic with inputs of the critical stakeholders drawn from Borno, Adamawa, Bauchi, Taraba, Gombe and Yobe states. He noted that the stakeholders are from the grassroots, where the people could benefit from the commission’s development process.“We believe in the bottom up approach to implement the forthcoming plan,” he said, noting that all interventions of the Federal Government and other international donor partners be keyed into the region’s plan.
The Special Adviser to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Grp-Capt Sadeeq Shehu said that Sadiya Farouk is keenly following the commission’s activities, particularly the wide range of consultations to be developed into a master plan. “Those who don’t plan, they are doomed to fail no matter the stakeholders’ inputs to produce the master plan,” he said. He noted that the bottom up approach of the commission is in line with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. Besides, he added: “Tomorrow (Thursday) being the Humanitarian International Day, the Minister is launching a document on localization. He said that the document recognizes the best people that decide what are required in disaster affected areas.
On the insurgency’s devastating impact, the President of the Borno Chambers of Commerce, Industry. Mines and Agriculture (BOCCIMA), Alhaji Ahmed Ashemi, said: “At the advent of insurgency; the business communities in the Northeast were the first casualty with members subjected to extortion and blackmail by the terrorists,” adding that the proceeds are used to finance their activities. He said the killings and destruction of property have continued to pauperize and degrade the business community. He said when markets are opened; they are not patronized by the local business communities. “Our businesses were not patronized by humanitarian institutions, while the provided funds could not even improve the local economy, “he lamented.
