Borno, international community in resettlement projects

ALL internally displaced persons in the North Eastern part of Nigeria, Borno, have been reassured of soon resettlement into their various communities.

The reassurance came last week from the State Governor, Kashim Shettima, who revealed that Borno presently has 2.2 million internally displaced persons to cater for.

To that end, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with other members of the international community, have finally endorsed an agreement with the state government to rebuild and rehabilitate the victims of Boko Haram insurgent group.

Besides, the groups have also indicated their readiness to expose some engineers with the state government to foreign exposure and training in the United States of America.

Shettima, who said plans are on going to solve the challenge of displacement, assured those affected would return to their respective communities before May 29, 2016.

The Governor disclosed this in an interview with newsmen at the Government House, Maiduguri, saying his government has embarked on massive re-construction and rebuilding of destroyed communities in Kaga council area of the state.

He said the U.S, Brithish and Norwegian governments, are actively involved in providing various humanitarian assistances and shelter for the displaced persons in camps.

“So far, we are anticipating a lot of positive responses from the international community. The presence of British Foreign Minister, David Miliband and USAID representatives are all positive signals that lots of assistance is in the offing.

“They are also sponsoring 10 of our graduate engineers to know the nitty-gritty of ‘pivot irrigation system’ at Arkansas, U.S. This will go a long way in enhancing the capacity of our people”, he said, adding that the U.S government is actively assisting the people.

He set January 2016 as the deadline for housing development in Kaga, Benisheikh, Tamsu-Kauwa and Makinta-Kururi, saying that he wants all those reconstruction and rehabilitation projects to be completed and commissioned.

For Bama, Askira/Uba, and liberated communities, our target is that by May 29, 2016, we will strive to make sure that a substantial number of our people have returned to their homes in anticipation of next coming rainy season.

“All we want is for peace to prevail. Once peace is restored, we are going to deploy all our resources to fully rehabilitate and resettle the over 2.2 million IDPs, who are in camps and living with their relations in Maiduguri and other cities and towns of the country.”

Shettima, who was visibly excited on meeting IDPs’ possible early return said 600 block-molding machines are currently available in the Maiduguri Central Store, with only 50 already deployed and that he is eagerly waiting to deploy the remaining to the people as soon as peace is restored.