Yobe Approves N187.4m Compensation To Victims Of Boko Haram

…Sets aside N913.1m for roads, examination fees for government-sponsored candidates

SAN FRANCISCO, May 22, (THEWILL) - Victims of Boko Haram ferocious attacks in Yobe State are to receive N187.4m compensation from the state government.

The money was approved to assist the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the state even as the Yobe State Government said 99 persons were killed innocently during the crisis in the state.

The sum of N913.1m has also been approved for the construction of three roads in Damaturu, the state capital as well as payment of examination fees for government-sponsored candidates.

Making the disclosure on Wednesday during a media briefing after the weekly executive council meeting, the state Commissioner for Information, Alhaji Goni Fika, said the government had decided to compensate those whose houses were burnt and those who were killed by unidentified gunmen or bomb blasts in the state in recent times.

Fika also said that the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) had earlier carried out an assessment and established that 99 persons were confirmed to have been innocently killed while 135 others were attacked with their houses burnt during the attacks.

The Commissioner said N653.7 million had also been approved for the construction of 6.4-kilometre roads in three housing estates within the Damaturu metropolis while the sum of N259.4 million was also approved for the payment of registration fees for government-sponsored candidates for West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) May/June and June/July 2013 examinations respectively.

According to Fika, the sum of N787.5 million was approved for 6,000 metric tons of urea fertilizer for the 2013 farming season, stressing that early supply of fertilizer will enhance the success of the current cropping season.