How well has the NEDC justifies its establishment?
To answer your question, lets look at the factors that informed government decision to establish the NEDC. We are well aware of what happened in the Northeast of the country in the last 13 years, where the Boko Haram insurgents have virtually destroyed all infrastructure in that region. When you also look back before the insurgents, the north east region was one of the most backward regions in terms of the critical statistics either in education, health and other sectors. The activities of Boko haram have virtually destroyed or degraded whatever was there even before the insurgency.
And the people there have suffered, their assets have been destroyed, and they have been displaced and lacking support. President Muhammadu Buhari in his wisdom saw the need to intervene to establish an agency to play the role of bringing back that region at least to be at par with other regions of the country and by extension restoring all the destroyed sectors of the economy in that region. And I think the president has done well in seeing the coming on stream of such agency, needed as intervention to restore hope, peace and stability back to the people of the region. That is why in 2017 the NEDC Act was passed by the National Parliament for the establishment of the commission and we were inaugurated in 2019 with a very wide mandate. Those of you who are opportune to go through the Act establishing the commission, you will see that our mandate covers everything, but let me say the key mandate of the Commission is the socio-economic development of the north, though it may have some soft mandates under the major mandate. And we have been relentless in our efforts to ensure the fulfillment of these mandates through the execution of different Programmes and policies in line with the overarching need to address the challenges facing the northeast region.
Can you talk us through the North East Stabilization and Development Master Plan?
The NEDC Act specifically stated that the Act should have a document which is the master plan to work with. Producing the master plan was one of the most critical jobs of the commission because it outlines what should be done immediately, in the midterm and in the long term. The Master Plan is based on stabilization and development of the region and that is why we worked to develop it.
The implementation of the Master Plan requires about N31trillion. How do you intend to mobilize this fund?
Even that N31 trillion was as of June 2022 and by now it should be more because of the exchange rate. When you read the Master Plan we know that the government alone cannot provide that much and this is where the creativity of the commission comes in. Out of this N31 trillion, we are only hoping to get about 18% of the fund from the government and about 80% we want to get it from external forces through various means, and we can do Public Private Partnership (PPP). If we want to build a hospital for instance, we can get a developer and promoter to provide 80% of the fund to build a first class hospital and manage it for some time to recoup his investment and hand it over to us. There are also development partners. So, we are going to rely more on external sources on a commercialized basis and others.
How would you describe the level of synergy between the commission and the government of member- states of the region in project implementation?
The NEDC is for 6 states of the region : Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe. The six states are the key stakeholders, because we are there for them, we are there for people of those six states. So, when we started our work here, the first thing we did was that we made the states understand what we do at the commission. We are not a competitor; we are an incremental partner to them to assist in what they are doing. Like I said earlier, all the six states were affected by the insurgency though some more affected than others. States like Borno, Adamwa and Yobe are more affected but there is this spillover effect.
So, we are there to intervene where it is necessary to support them. As a team and as a board, the first thing we did was to visit all the 6 six states to have an understanding of what was on ground there and that made us understand that most of the states have different plans running in different levels, coined with different names. So, we had to study their own plans and then see how we are going to factor it into our own programs because we are there for a common goal.
So, as we developed the master plan we had the opportunity of going to all the local government states of the 6 states of the northeast to see what was on ground, and what the government was doing there and to see how we can support. Along the line we even encouraged the governors to form the North East governors’ Forum where they meet every quarter so that we have a synergy with them on that basis in relation to what they are doing. This is because they all know that resources are very scarce and when intervention comes to benefit the people we need to prioritize. So far so good we don’t have any issue with the state governors.
Talking about infrastructure, how has the commission determined the construction of roads, bridges that received the most emphasis within the region and how did you assess the ones with the top priority?
When we started developing the Master Plan, we had a series of activities; we had consultations, stakeholder’s engagements at both the regional level and federal level because federal government ministries also do things there in the region. So, to avoid duplications we carried along all those people and before we came to the Master Plan we did a baseline study to see what has happened during the insurgency and what they have on ground. That gave us the gap where we need to come in either in agriculture, education in health and infrastructure. We were able to know which roads are going on and which have been abandoned, and which roads are urgently needed and so on and so forth. So, we have this database that when you go through the Master Plan you can see that all the states are covered, all the local governments in the region are covered, sometimes we go as far ward levels.
Coming back to the question of roads, first we assessed what the roads that are currently going on in the region and the contract already awarded by the Ministry of Works and Housing. We saw that some roads are very critical for security and economic development but because of various reasons those roads are not going as expected. So, we tried to partner with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing so that those roads can be completed or taken to an appreciable level so that the original envisaged goals can be achieved.
For instance, if you go to Bauchi, there is a road going from Alkaleri, which was built a long time ago with many bridges on that road. We now partner with the Ministry of Works to sign an MoU so that we can assist in completing the bridges and culverts so that the road will be motorable while they can do the other parts of the road. When you go there now, our own part of the road we have done more 80%. Secondly, we also look at those roads destroyed by insurgency for various reasons and how we will bring them back.
There is a road in Adamawa state from Mubi to Madagali about four bridges were destroyed by the insurgents and we agreed with the Ministry of Works that we are going to rebuild those bridges. And now out of the four bridges we have completed two and two will be completed soon.
Thirdly we considered that the roads will improve security and economic development and in each state we looked at very critical areas. Let me start with Borno state. Two years ago you heard of the incident that happened in Zabarmari, where about 120 farmers were killed on their farms. The President was there and for people who know Borno state very well that area is a real agriculture zone. It provides most of the food in Borno state and other parts. But the road network of that place was terrible so we decided that we must open that area. Today, a contract has been awarded to do the road, which when completed will improve the security situation. Agricultural production has improved because the farmers can now go into their farms and it is very attractive to industries especially rice milling industries.
In Yobe, for those of you who have heard about the Alagarno where the Boko Haram have wreaked havoc there is a road there and when it is open it will reduce the number of hours to transport people and farm products and the road is already ongoing and by the grace of God it will be finished very soon.
In Adamawa, we have had issues in the agricultural economic zones because the roads have not been rehabilitated, so we are opening those areas. In doing the roads infrastructure, we also think about how to bring interconnectivity between the states. There is a road we are doing between Abba in Gombe state to Bauchi state. This is another agricultural zone that will improve economic activities there as soon as we are done.
So, in terms of infrastructure, we don’t have all the resources, our activities are demand- driven. Therefore before we do any project we embark on thorough consultation with the people and we have their own perspective and in all our projects we look at the value chain and also ask people what they need. When we started we had a project we called Rapid Response Initiative (RRI) to get the pulse of the people where we engaged them on options of what they wanted and we responded to them. Through the RRI we came to understand the value of what we have done.
We look at what we did in education having seen that most of the education facilities were destroyed. We looked at how to improve the education infrastructure because we cannot be all the places. So, we conceived the idea of establishing mega schools from primary up to secondary schools and by the time we did that in each of the 18 senatorial districts of the northeast we will be adding complementary support. Same goes for our health. We look at the health institutions both the primary and tertiary and at the end of the day we will choose the one that will be most impactful. We are very selective and very constructive in what we want based on what is ground because the challenges are enormous.
Let’s come to ICT which is what our youth like these days. When you go to any of the states, the first thing you see is youth lining up here and there and this may constitute a time bomb. And so we developed a plan to engage some of them who cannot go back to school. Some of the youth there had their education disrupted and they have lost so many years. We need to do something that will keep them engaged and we took the initiative that we must give them something which they can do.
And we thought that as a commission providing them with vocational training on something they like will fit in. Today, we have 18 ICT training centres in the north east- one in each senatorial district where we are training an average of 400 people per year.
And once we train them we give them kits to go and practice what they learn through simple models. One model is for those who can repair handsets, another model is graphics where people can sit down and do invitation cards and many other things. And the model has worked and today we have many youths who have started their own entrepreneurship and training others thereby creating more employment.
We are also training people in modern mechatronic, we are training people in DSTV installation and metering so that people who cannot go to formal schools can go to vocational training centers and have something better and that will reduce the number of jobless youths. So, all our projects either infrastructure, social interventions are demand- driven to ensure that what we do will benefit the people and they are interested in what we are doing for them.
And to make the Master Plan work, we worked to stabilize the people and make sure they are psychologically at peace with renewed hope. We have categorized this Master Plan into eleven pillars: all the sectors are encapsulated in it, especially agriculture because almost 80% of the people in the northeast depend on agriculture. So, we give agriculture a high priority. We have health, which is also very important, education, industry, commerce, and social amenities. We also have implemented a strategy for the low hanging fruits, the short term and medium term for the next ten years, and we are going to review the master plan as time goes on.
What is the most impactful project undertaken so far by the Commission?
When we came in 2019, the whole area was under crisis, people needed food, people needed shelter, so at that time if you said you are going to construct a road you are just wasting your time because people have not eaten. So, at that time we did well to provide food and medicine. But we are also very mindful because you cannot give people food all the way. It is not possible you must also add value to their lives as you are giving them food.
So, we considered that for instance in IDP camps one way or another they must go back to their homes or start a new home elsewhere so that they can live with dignity. So, the first thing we did was to concentrate on housing. President Buhari gave a directive that we should have at least 10, 000 houses across the northeast. So, we decided to build at least 1,000 houses in each of the states and for instance the one we have in Maiduguri Borno state, when you go there it is like a new town filled with security.
Roads have the capacity to open up industries. Good roads will also create employment, investment and attract land speculators, who will come in and build housing estates. So, this is one of the impacts that good roads will make.
What are your expectations for the Northeast zone?
The point is that in the north east zone we have all the ingredients to develop the region and it is a matter of harnessing all the resources. We are going to create resources to ensure that sustainability is attained and then we are going to have a region that is partnering well and God willing at the end of the implementation of this Master Plan we are going to have a very prosperous north east that is attractive to many development suitors.
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