Hopes run high as North-East commission is set to rebuild

It was the day that President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the bill that established the North East Development Commission (NEDC), a child of necessity meant to give a new lease of life to the people in the region who have suffered from debilitating attacks from the Boko Haram insurgents for nearly a decade. Even from […]

It was the day that President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the bill that established the North East Development Commission (NEDC), a child of necessity meant to give a new lease of life to the people in the region who have suffered from debilitating attacks from the Boko Haram insurgents for nearly a decade. Even from a distance, the echo from Adamawa, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe states that constitute the North East was loud and clear – the coming of the commission is a new dawn for them.

The joy of the people is simple: The days of multiple interventions from different groups, committees and task force(s) whose activities yielded little verifiable results with direct impact on the victims would soon be over. With the exceptions of interventions by the World Bank, UNDP, few other developed countries, and the Borno State government, there are a lot of questions as to how other interventions are being implemented.

However, President Buhari was unambiguous in his speech while inaugurating the Board of the NEDC. He directed the commission to take over the activities and structures of all government-funded agencies working in the sub-region. That means the Presidential Committee on the North-east Initiative (PCNI) will be taken over by the commission, while Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) is, essentially, dissolved. The commission is expected to coordinate the rebuilding of the insurgency-ravaged north-east region.

The Senate had earlier passed the bill for the establishment of the commission in October 2016 and though there had been several interventions both from within and outside Nigeria in respect of rebuilding the region so as to give its people sense of belonging and hope for the future, there was no common front in respect of gauging who is doing what, where, at which cost and whether the intervention is the actual thing that people in that community needed.

The NEDC (Establishment) Act, 2017 was assented to by President Buhari on October 25, 2017 and since then, expectations were high as to when the commission will fully start working, considering the exigencies of the moment that left millions of people out of their homes and children out of school. The Board is chaired by Major-General Paul Tarfa (rtd) while Mohammed Alkali has been confirmed as the managing director and chief executive officer of the commission.

The Senate had also confirmed nine members of the board of the commission. They include: Musa Yashi, executive director humanitarian affairs; Mohammed Jawa, executive director admin and finance; Omar Mohammed, executive director, operations; and David Kente, member representing north-east zone. Others are Asmau Mohammed, member representing north-west zone; Benjamin Adanyi, member representing north-central zone; Olawale Oshun, member representing south-west zone; Theodore Ekechi, member representing south-east and Obasuke McDonald, member representing south-south zone.

A sense of direction had been provided by President Buhari while inaugurating the commission before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on that fateful Wednesday. He said a take-off grant of N10 billion meant for the commission had already been captured in the 2019 budget. Daily Trust Saturday recalls that the commission had earlier presented a budget of N55 billion to the Senate.

In his speech after inaugurating the board, Buhari gave the commission directive to “Institute a strong mechanism for effective and efficient coordination of all the stakeholder (local and International) activities, starting by taking over all federally-funded activities, projects and programmes as well as the structures and logistics assets that the organizations utilise.”

According to the president, “as a matter of urgency, you should conduct comprehensive survey of all states in the zone to determine the reconstruction and rehabilitation needs of all the socio-economic sectors of the zone and develop an intervention master plan based on the outcome of the assessments.

“The new board shall be the focal organisation to assess, coordinate, harmonise and report on all the intervention programmes and initiatives that the federal government or any of its ministries and agencies are involved in the region.

“You must, therefore, constantly liaise with the relevant Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), States and other Developmental Partners for the implementation of all programs and initiatives and proper utilisation of funds released for intervention in the zone,” he said.

Most importantly, the president urged the board to give priority attention to the developmental and infrastructural projects such as reconstruction of roads, houses, and business premises destroyed by Boko Haram. Analysts believe that the clear directives given by the president is a good start for the commission.

Babagana Ali, a humanitarian worker in Maiduguri, said “facilitating the rebuilding efforts under one umbrella will reduce rivalry, duplication and most importantly, fast-track the intervention efforts.”

Though Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states undoubtedly suffered more, Bauchi, Gombe and Taraba states equally share the sad story of mass influx of Internally Displaced Persons.

So atrocious is the Boko Haram crisis that from 2009, the insurgency has claimed over 100,000. The crisis has displaced over 2.6 million people. Almost every family in North East Nigeria, with a population of 25 million people, has been affected by the crisis, directly or indirectly. The crisis has produced over 50,000 widows and 52, 000 orphans in just one decade, according to official figures.

“This is a crisis that destroyed properties including homes, hospitals, schools and markets and places of worship worth over $9 billion,” according to the UNDP. The worst-hit are women, children and the elderly people who were forced to flee and are now living with acquaintances or taking refuge in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.

Efforts to rebuild the North East did not start with the establishment of the NEDC. Daily Trust Saturday recalls at a two-day Humanitarian Multi Stakeholder Engagement, with the theme: “Coordination, Communication and Cooperation,” held in Maiduguri few years ago, the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, expressed the commitment of the Federal Government to restore normalcy to the region. He also unveiled a five-year Marshall Plan for the region saying, “The tasks before us are many and profound, to fix brick and mortar and to mend hearts and minds damaged by senseless murderous violence.”

Professor Osinbajo, therefore, called on the development partners to coordinate their activities for better performance.

Also, the World Bank had during a meeting with President Buhari, in Washington, unveiled a plan to spend $2.1 billion on rebuilding infrastructure in the North East. The funds will be spent through the World Bank’s International Development Agency in the form of low-interest loans, which will be interest-free for the first ten years and then accrue at a below market rate thereafter.

Not quite long, the Government of Japan released $1.5 million to fund community stabilization activities in the North-East region. The interventions being implemented in the region are aimed at supporting victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the three most affected states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

Mohammed Ali, a resident of Maiduguri said the task ahead of NEDC is a huge one, and it will require sacrifice from those charged with the responsibility to deliver. He added that if the NEDC receives the desired funding and support, millions of people in the North East would soon live a better life.