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NEDC earmarks N6b for doctors, nurses, teachers’ training

By Matthew Ogune, Abuja
26 January 2022   |   2:58 am
North-East Development Commission (NEDC) has established an ambitious Education Endowment Fund (EEF) with a seed capital of N6 billion.

North East Development Commission

Says $6.7b required to rebuild N’East

North-East Development Commission (NEDC) has established an ambitious Education Endowment Fund (EEF) with a seed capital of N6 billion.

Disclosing this, yesterday, in Abuja during a Consultative Meeting on the North East Stabilisation and Development Master Plan (NESDMP), NEDC Board Chairman, Maj-Gen. Paul Tarfa (rtd), said the fund could be replenished yearly with 10 per cent of the commission’s budget.

According to Tarfa, the fund is for the award of scholarships, capital building for teachers and medical workers, agricultural extension officers, and other professionals, which is necessary to address the poor human capital indices of the region, reported to be one of the lowest in the country.

Noting that the 2016 report on the Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) on crisis in the North East produced by the Federal Government, World Bank, United Nations and European Union (EU) shows that property worth $9 billion were destroyed in the region, he said that up to $6.7 billion is required for recovery and peace building across the six affected states in the region, for four years only.

The NESDMP, he added, will come up with a proposed Financing Strategy, regretting that due to the present economic realities, the burden of implementing it will be huge.

His words: “The enormity and cost of rebuilding the North East is high; hence all stakeholders in the public and private sectors need to garner resources to achieve that. Therefore, it is imperative that some critical and timely steps are taken in this direction.”

He urged the government to open up the vast commercial and trade corridors across North East states’ borders with the neighbouring countries and foster linkages and cooperation towards improvement of livelihood and general socio-economic development of the wider Lake Chad Basin region.

Earlier in her keynote address, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, disclosed that the Federal Government was pushing for the principles of localisation through institutional strengthening and capacity building of local stakeholders, including affected communities, non-governmental organisations and of national government.

According to the minister, this is guided by the developed and validated national localisation framework, which is focused on making all humanitarian interventions as local as possible.

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