The over 12 year Boko Haram insurgency ravaging Borno State did not just damage the infrastructural settings of the once known home of peace, but it also devastated the once vibrant economy of the state, leaving survivors impoverished.
While billions of naira worth of property both public and private were destroyed by the terrorists, thousands of citizens were rendered homeless by the insurgents who burnt down communities and rendered many homeless as they fled to seek shelter in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps while others fled to neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon living as refugees.
However, amid the return of relative peace to the state, succour is beginning to come to the people with the North East Development Commission (NEDC)whose plethora of interventions in Borno State has continued to contribute towards making positive impact on persons worst hit by the devastating impact of Boko Haram terrorists.
One of the greatest interventions embarked by the NEDC is the construction of 10,000 housing units by the federal government through the commission.
A case study is the 1000 housing units established at Ngwon in Mafa local government area, where most of the citizens earlier displaced have be resettled with basic life amenities constructed there to ease their lives.
While other of such structures are scattered across the state, the NEDC, understanding that resettlement of citizens displaced by the terrorists required adequate security surveillance, to ensure the marauding terrorists do not again, pose harm to the returnees, provided over 75 patrol vehicles to the Nigerian military and other security agencies including ambulances for emergencies.
The commission did not stop at that, but went further to empower most of the health institutions in the state with 500kva generating sets, ambulances and hospital beds as well as renovation of labour ward at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH ).
In addition to the 500kva generators donated to the health institution which included the 7th Division Military Hospital Maimalari Cantonment, the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Maiduguri, the state’s Specialist Hospital and the UMTH. The Commission supported UMTH with 10,000 litres of diesel following the over one year power failure in Borno that had crippled the economy and dealt with the health sector.
Youths were not left out as the NEDC through different intervention programmes, ranging from ICT trainings to sports empowerment, trained youths on various information and communication technology such as smart phone repairs, graphic designs among others just to ensure that the youths do not turn to willing tools in the hands of the terrorists, who capitalise on the youth’s vulnerability to recruit fighters into their already battered base.
On the ICT, the commission has targeted over 10,000 youths to be trained yearly with over 4000 of them already trained across the northeastern states.
One of the beneficiaries of the NEDC’ s youth empowerment programmes who graduated recently, Barka Bwala, said the impact of the skill acquired during the training as smart phone repairer has opened new doors of wealth creation for him.
He appreciated NEDC for setting up such a laudable project, adding that the beneficiaries who are mostly youths affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in the state would now find themselves engaged.
He however urged NEDC to ensure that the moment youths are trained, apart from starter packs, the tokens for renting of spaces and settling of union fees among others should be provided immediately.
Bwala said the immediate provision of these would ensure that the youths, after the training do not stay away from practice so as not to forget what they were taught during training.
Another beneficiary of the ICT training by the NEDC in Borno, Rebecca Malgwi, who participated in the graphic design category, expressed gratitude to the commission for giving the youths the opportunity to be self reliant.
She urged government to continue to provide such laudable programmes to take the youths off the streets.
According to the managing director of NEDC, Mohammed, the objective of establishing the ICT centres in Borno and other parts of the Northeast was to empower youths and make them self-reliant.
“Our overall objective is to improve access to ICT resources within the northeast region, empower youths and make them self-reliant.
“Initially, the plan is to establish a centre each in every state of the region. But due to demands, we decided to have one in each of the senatorial district of the entire region. Which means we are having 18 centres now”, he said.
Speaking as one of the greatest beneficiaries of the NEDC intervention in Borno, the Chief Medical Director ( CMD ) UMTH, Prof Ahmed Ahidjo, noted that the hospital has been receiving numerous assistance from the commission through different interventions.
Ahidjo said the first time UMTH recieved assistance from the NEDC was during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic when things were hard and the hospital lacked where to get assistance to handle infected patients.
The CMD said the commission looked holistically and donated medical items not only to the UMTH but to other federal and state hospitals across the region.
He said that the terrorists’ activities included bombing of communities and villages which resulted into burn related injuries, getting a centre to treat victims of burns became a challenge until the NEDC established Burn Centre at the UMTH .
He said the Burn Centre was not only built in UMTH, but also in Yola with the one in Maiduguri servicing victims of burns from Bauchi, Yobe and Gombe states.
” Also recently, the NEDC gave us a full 500kva generator used in maintaining the Burn Centre and other facilities in the hospital. During the COVID-19, they gave us ambulance to convey COVID-19 patients. Recently, when we cried to the Commission, they constructed new labour ward for us which now enabled pregnant women to give birth comfortably in privacy,” Ahidjo said.
He recalled how the NEDC assisted the hospital with 10,000 litres of diesel while power failure persisted in the state.
Similarly , at the 7 Division military hospital where the Commission donated medical equipment for the treatment of wounded soldiers and the barracks community, the Theatre Commander Operation Hadin Kai, Maj. Gen Christopher Musa noted the live saving importance of the donation.
Also at the Neuropsychiatric hospital Maiduguri, the Chief medical Director thanked the Management of the NEDC for the interventions the Commission have embarked in the hospital.
As should be expected, the NEDC has continued to get accolades from different quarters. in one of her visits to Borno state, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk who was a special guest during the recent interventions by the NEDC, commended the Commission for the multiple projects it has executed in the State.
The minister made the commendation after handing over medical equipment donated by the NEDC to 7 Division hospital Maimalari Cantonment, Federal Neuropsychiatric hospital Maiduguri, and 200 beds to the university of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital ( UMTH ) .
Hajiya Farouk also commissioned Centre for the Study of Violent Extremism (CSVE ) Complex constructed by the NEDC as well as presentation of N48.3 million cheque to support Cancer Research project at the department of Pharmacology, University of Maiduguri.
Represented by the permanent secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Nasiru Sani Gwarzo, the minister said the projects she had seen NEDC execute are beyond impression, noting that they are realities on ground.
” I am very impressed and I see bigger achievements by the agency. What the NEDC has done is not just bringing succour to the people, but are reshaping back the Nigerian situation back on track to the economic development. So what they are doing is not just only for now but futuristic. Very ambitious and we are impressed.
” And many of the things they commissioned today are things that were given timelines. The timeliness, the quality and the delivery is something commendable.
“Anybody who sees these would have every good reason to continue funding and supplying for these projects. They are yielding and making impact on the people to which they are intended,” she said.
