NEDC to spend $6.7bn in North East

A total of $6.7bn will be spent on rebuilding the insurgency-ravaged North East in the next four years.

The money would also be spent to carry out recovery of peace building and developmental projects across the six states in the zone as contained in the North East Development Master Plan project unveiled in Abuja Tuesday at a consultative meeting with stakeholders and security agencies.

The Managing Director of the North East Development Commission, Mohammed Alkali, said the draft master plan would be sent to the Federal Government for approval after inputs from stakeholders have been obtained.

He said the commission planned to reduce the number of attacks and insurgencies in the region by 60 per cent in the next eight years.

According to the draft master plan, it is expected that 70 per cent of the population within the school-age will be enrolled in school; while those in employment age will be in economically-productive activity.

Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum urged state governors in the zone to work together towards the actualisation of the plan.

Zulum said: “To address the challenge of increasing poverty, infrastructural deficit and that of climate vulnerabilities, we have to have a strong master plan that will be sustainable.”

He also urged other governors of the states to be interested in the implementation of the plan.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, said though the master plan was at the draft stage, different recovery projects  were on-going in the North East to rebuild the zone.

“Despite being in the process of developing the master plan, I’m pleased to state the NEDC has not been static and continues to leave its footprints across all the North East states with life-changing projects and programmes for our citizens.”

The National Security Adviser, Babagana Munguno, assured that efforts made so far would not be hijacked by terrorists and other criminal elements.