NEDC to execute 224 education, health, water projects in n/east

The Managing Director of  the North-East Development Commission, is set initiate two projects in each of the 112 local government areas of the six states of the northeast.

NEDC Managing Director Mohammed Goni Alkali said this at the headquarters of the commission in Maiduguri on Monday while hosting a delegation of the Northeast Support Group, Borno State Chapter, led by the secretary of the Borno Elders’ Forum, Dr Mali Gubio.

“We have 112 local government areas. We want to do two projects per local government and that gives us 224 projects, especially in education, health and water resources. I know we cannot achieve 100 percent, but if we achieve 77 percent, it is good.

“I understand that there are 1,058 wards in the six states of northeast. So, every year, we’re going to pick five persons in each of the wards to go the University. 5 multiplied by 1,000 is equal to 5,000.

Human capital is development. We can develop people with ICT. That is why we are trying to establish ICT centres across the Northeast and to train and empower our youths so that they can pick up their lives from there.

“We will then go to those who cannot go for academic line like those who want to do vocational training. We will take another 5,000 people. About 15,000 will be benefiting from our scholarship every year.

“As we go on we will look at those who want to do their Masters or Ph.D otherwise this problem can’t be solved because their parents cannot afford the school fees.

“Someone has to take up the challenge for a few years. We are going to develop schools and teachers because if you build schools without teachers forget about it. What we are going to do is to embark on massive teachers training. For me development is not just to build structures. It is something social that can impact people’s lives.” Mohammed said.

Earlier, Gubio had said the expectation of the populace from the NEDC was high due to the high level of poverty in the zone, tasking the commission on youth empowerment and capacity building.