NEMA Begins Assessment Tour Of Destroyed Communities In Borno

By Ibrahim-Gwamna Mshelizza

The Federal Government has sent an assessment team to visit Borno state to assess the level of destruction carried out by the Boko Haram insurgents in the state.

The Federal Government inter ministerial committee on the assessment visit consist of the representative of the Federal ministry of health, education works, the Red cross and other nongovernmental organizations headed by the Director Search and Rescue of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Air commodore Charles Otegbade.

Air commodore Otegbade who paid a courtesy call on the Borno state Deputy Governor in His office said “we are

here to assess the level of destructions created by the

insurgents and recommend to the Federal Government, so that the needed funds will be provided”.

He also appealed to the Borno state Government to assist them in the assessment assignment, so as to furnish the Federal government with the actual level of destruction to enable the state access the Victims support fund.

“80 percent of the Borno communities are living in Maiduguri hence, the need for NEMA to continue supporting the Borno state Government, as a chunk of the Federal allocation to the state was spent on maintaining the IDPs”, the Director stated.

Responding, the Borno state Deputy Governor Alhaji Zannah Umar Mustapha said 22 local government areas were displaced by the insurgents in the state and that over one million IDPs are living in Maiduguri, the state capital alone.

The deputy governor said though the military has liberated 97 percent of the communities taken over by insurgents in Borno, it will take time for the government to fumigate and diffuse the landmines before they are relocated to their various communities and appealed to the Federal Government and NEMA to take over the feeding of the IDPs.

He said in the last five years, the outgoing government of PDP has given only N200 million to Borno stat Government, as compared to the Adamawa state who has few local government areas affected but receives about N4 billion.