The war against Boko Haram has been going on for over 11 years now.
The result of this prolonged conflict is loss of over 50,000 lives, displacement of over 3 million people, and destruction of infrastructure, businesses, loss of livelihoods etc.
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The North East region was already one of the poorest in the country even before the crises.
With such a protracted and devastating conflict, the socio-economic situation has become even worse, driving its people further into poverty and economic degradation.
Lately, in addition to the Boko Haram crises, there is an upsurge in armed banditry, kidnapping, cattle rustling and communal clashes, which are all lagging indicators to the overall health and wellbeing of the economy.
The United Nations recently reported that about 4.3 million people were facing hunger and food insecurity in the North East.
The UN mentioned that the resurgence of violence is threatening to reverse the gains that were achieved.
At least 10.6 million people need our assistance to survive, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator said.
While I was writing this article, the governors of the North East met for the 2nd time in an impressive show of regional solidarity.
They issued a communique with an 11-point resolution which highlighted their concerns and recommendations for some of the critical issues facing the region.
First, the number of boots on the ground needs to be significantly increased.
The Nigerian Armed Forces seem to be overstretched, fighting multiple battles at the same time.
My own suggestion is to set up a regional security outfit or a national guard with men and officers recruited from the six states of the North East to work in reinforcing and complementing the efforts of the current gallantry efforts of the Nigerian Armed Forces.
Secondly, there’s need for more intelligence gathering, use of technologies and state of the art surveillance tools to provide real time authentic, and actionable intelligence to the troops.
Thirdly, there is an urgent need to deploy advanced and sophisticated weaponry.
The performance of the personnel on ground can only be as good as the quality and sophistication of weaponry at their disposal.
As President Buhari mentioned, some equipment has started arriving while some are on their way.
Equally important to the availability of sophisticated weaponry, is the morale and welfare of the gallant troops at the battlefront.
Their sacrifices and services to the country need to be rewarded with excellent welfare packages commensurate with the risk and efforts they are putting in.
Additionally, an endowment fund should be set up to take care of families of the fallen soldiers.
Fourthly, there’s need to be more cooperative and engaged with key stakeholders, the community and their leaders, political, religious and traditional.
A situation where stakeholders/political leaders are seen repeatedly in open disagreement with the military is not helpful for the war effort.
On the economic front, combination of the prolonged crises, fall in oil prices and the impact of COVID-19 all have made the financial situation of these states very pathetic.
Therefore, a massive economic recovery programme is urgently required.
The plan should include an ambitious target to achieve certain milestones over a period of four years.
The following key sectorial intervention areas are recommended:
A- Setting up of industrial complexes in each senatorial zone of the six states of the region.
The complexes should utilise locally available raw materials.
Industrial complexes are engines of growth and have been the secret of success for many economies like Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea.
B- Aggressive land development: Target to open up and develop 1.2 million hectares of land (200,000 per state) to provide massive employment and food security.
Each state to target cultivation of 2-3 crops where they have comparative advantage with a plan for all year-round crop cultivation.
C- Setting up of agricultural produce centres in each local government of the six states.
These centres to work closely with farmers, and other grass root level producers to collect, sort, grade and aggregate raw materials that will serve as feedstock to the industries in the industrial zones.
D- Livestock Clusters to raise and produce livestock like cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, chicken etc. along with associated industries e.g. milk/diary, meat, eggs, leather etc.
The livestock clusters to include feedlots, feed mills, abattoirs, milk and dairy production, meat canning, fish smoking, tanneries, and leather industries etc.
E- Setting up solid mineral centres in senatorial zones where solid minerals are found in commercial quantities.
These centres will collect, weigh, test, grade, polish, cut and package solid minerals and precious stones such as gold, tantalite, aquamarine, and sapphire.
The centres can also produce building materials like tiles, marbles, aggregates, stone base and gravels for construction.
F- Massive planting of economic trees to fight draught and desertification, generate revenue from cash crops and provide employment.
Target 1 million trees per state.
G- Education: Target zero out of school children.
Some estimates suggest that about 70% of the estimated 13 million out of school children in Nigeria are from the region.
Building new schools using locally available building materials can aid economic recovery.
Teaching can also provide job opportunities to graduates within the region.
H- Healthcare: Health is wealth, and there will be no meaningful development without sustainable healthcare.
Restoring normal life, economic activity and security in the North East to pre-conflict levels requires a lot of planning, work, commitment and dedicated support from all stakeholders from the region and beyond.
The people of the North East certainly do not want to mark another 10-years anniversary.
It is high time to set some targets to completely end the crises, return IDPs to their communities, and restore normal economic activities.
The governors of the North East have set the ball rolling, so keeping focus on the goals and ensuring the objectives of the mission are achieved should remain the focus in the short term.
Muhammed Santuraki writes from Doha, Qatar & can be reached at [email protected]
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