NEDC Promises Demand-driven Interventions In North East

Managing director of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Mohammed Goni Alkali, has said the commission would continue to embark on demand-driven interventions to cater for the needs and aspirations of the people of the insurgency-ravaged region.

Alkali told journalists yesterday during the official presentation of a fully equipped ambulance and N2 million cash to the management team of the General Hospital in Marama Town of Hawul local government area of Borno State, that the ambulance was donated to the hospital based on the demand of the community.

He said NEDC was established since 2018 with an Act, which is charged with the responsibility of receiving and managing funds allocated by the federal government and international donors for the resettlement, rehabilitation, integration and reconstruction of roads, houses, health facilities and business premises of victims of insurgency and terrorism, as well as tackling the menace of poverty, illiteracy, ecological problems and any related environmental or development challenges in the six North East states of Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Taraba and Bauchi.

This, according to him, was in line with the North East Stabilisation and Development Masterplan (NESDMP) of the commission.

He said NEDC’s part of the mandate is to see to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of general hospitals and other related health institutions, as well as provision of drugs and other medical consumables.

On behalf of the Marama community, the principal medical officer, Dr Emmanuel Ikechukwu, thanked NEDC and its management team for the gesture, which he said would help to address emergency response challenges in the hospital.