World Bank, others unveil $2.1b package for N’East
Olonisakin
THE World Bank has unfolded a package, which would see it spending up to $2.1 billion in rebuilding the war-ravaged North- East as a result of the activities of Boko Haram insurgents.
Meanwhile, the new Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Major General Abayomi Olonisakin, has said that the Nigerian Armed Forces would soon set definite timelines for milestones to be achieved in the fight against Boko Haram.
The World Bank package was announced at a meeting in Washington yesterday between President Buhari and representatives of the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Health Organization, (WHO).
A statement from the Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina quoted him as saying that apart from rebuilding the region in terms of infrastructure, priority must also be given to the resettlement of internally displaced persons who now number over one million.
The president urged the World Bank to send a team, which would work in concert with the Federal Government,so that a proper assessment of needs could be done.
On its part, the WHO is also to invest $300 million on immunization against malaria in Nigeria, while the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will collaborate with Dangote Foundation to ensure that the country maintains its zero polio case record of the past one year,.
The CDS who made the declaration yesterday in Abuja while taking over from Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh. said a lot had been done in the ongoing operation against insurgency in the northeast.
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2 Comments
The NE of Nigeria is uniquely similar to areas around the mediteranian sea which grows most of the healthy foods characteristic of mediteranian cuisine. May I suggest that any leadership of our nation proritise the agricultural sector in the states in this area of the NE Nigeria? The state leadership can start by puting in place a team of agricultural scientists to realise the benefits of a newly published thesis by Dr. German Onisuru of Leeds Becket University which looked at the poultry industry in Delta state as I had earlier commented on this forum as folows:
Dr. German Onisuru. I was at the graduation ceremony at Leeds Becket
University with some members of the family to witness our son receive
hiss LLB(Hons) yesterday, but something remarkable drew our attention.
It was a doctorate for a Nigerian intellectual who had investigated
Poutry farming in Delta State. This, I thought was incredibly serious
and immediately beneficial research work that help align the poultry
farming, a source of much needed protein food for the teaming population
of this state. I have not had the opportunity to read this thesis yet,
but I will be making every eefort to do so at the earliest opportunity
when next I am in Leeds or at the University of Liverpool, where I have
contacts. I have chosen to write about this ground-breaking research
which is not on some European wooly topic but on a subject that will
have an immediate and useful benefit for a developing community such as
the Delta State. The published thesis may be available online as I write
this comment, but I will urge the Nigerian Guardian to do the right
thing by our people and feature this incredibly fruitful work. NAFDAC
might even see some advantage for the nation in sponsoring an
applicational work using Dr. German Onisuru as the projects
implimentation research fellow. My congratulations go to Dr. Onisuru of
the Business and Marcketing faculty of the Leeds Becket University,
Leeds, England.
Watch yourself Mr. CDS.
This war is very political, you will probably be working with the sponsors of the war. I would keep everything you know close to your chest and trust no one. The US team left in 2014 because they could not find one trustworthy military general to work with. Use your critical thinking skills, why are certain areas never bombed or attacked in Maiduguri? Why do some people have advance knowledge of the suicide bombers? We cover you with God’s protection and his wisdom and understanding.
We will review and take appropriate action.