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Reps query use of N23 billion Boko Haram victims support fund

By Saxone Akhaine (Northern Bureau Chief) and Adamu Abuh (Abuja)
11 February 2016   |   3:45 am
• Air Force chief wants better welfare for personnel fighting insurgency MEMBERS of the House of Representatives Committee on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) yesterday questioned how part of the N23 billion so far released to the Victims Support Funds (VSF) was utilised since it was established last year. At a meeting with the Gen T.…
IDP.

IDP.

• Air Force chief wants better welfare for personnel fighting insurgency

MEMBERS of the House of Representatives Committee on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) yesterday questioned how part of the N23 billion so far released to the Victims Support Funds (VSF) was utilised since it was established last year.

At a meeting with the Gen T. Y Danjuma-led VSF during its budget defence session, members of the Sani Zorro-led committee wondered how N2 billion was expended to support hundreds of displaced pupils in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states worse hit by the activities of Boko Haram insurgency.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Baba Abubakar, has said a robust welfare system for the military personnel engaged in the war against insurgency, particularly officers of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), would motivate them to end terror attacks in the country.

The Air Force chief stated this while commissioning projects, which include junior and senior cadet hostel facilities, CEED classroom at AFIT, extended military airfield runway, 301 control tower, and others in Kaduna, yesterday.

Abubakar reiterated the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to provide the required highly trained manpower to tackle crime, but harped on good welfare package for the NAF personnel who are in the battlefront in the North East and other areas in the country.

The lawmakers also queried the modalities followed by the VSF to dole out amount ranging between N10 to N20 million to support some select hospitals within the areas harbouring the IDPs in the country.

The query followed revelation by Vice Chairman of the VSF, Alhaji Tijanni Tumsah, who stood in for Gen T. Y Danjuma, that the sum of N2 billion was expended on the safe schools initiative in line with the resolve to ensure safety and standards of schools in the troubled North East region of the country.

Ossai Nicholas Ossai (Delta: PDP) who was piqued by the absence of most officials of the VSF in the budget defence session expressed dissatisfaction with the explanation offered by Tumsah over modalities followed in the disbursement of the monies to the hospitals.

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