Afdb Commits $1m To Rebuild Chibok School

Source: thewillnigeria.com

SAN FRANCISCO, April 27, (THEWILL) – The African Development Bank (AfDB) has committed $1 million for the rebuilding of the Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Chibok, Borno state, as part of efforts to rehabilitate the community ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.

THEWILL recalls that 217 students of school were abducted on April 14, 2014, by suspected Boko Haram insurgents while writing their final year examination.

Alhaji Tijjani Tumsa, the Vice-Chairman, Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative (PCNI), disclosed this on Thursday while speaking with newsmen shortly after a stakeholders meeting with members of the Chibok Community in Maiduguri.

Tumsa explained that part of the money would be channelled toward providing psychological support for the affected people but revealed that the military engineers currently working on the school would continue their work.

“The ADB has committed 1 million dollars for the school project; the money will be used to reconstruct the school and secure the premises,” he said.

“Part of the money will be used for some psycho-social support and security enhancement in the Chibok community.”

“The military engineers are part of the project, actually we have been negotiating with the Nigerian Army; so they are part of the new initiative.

“We are going to encourage them to make use of local suppliers on all needs on the project to support the local community.”

Tumsa said that the project was being implemented in collaboration with the PCNI, whose main focus was rebuilding the North East.

He said that the objective of the meeting was to create synergy between the Federal Government, the State Government and the Chibok Local Government toward restoring the lost glory of the area.

“We had a stakeholders' engagement with the community because we felt that it is necessary to engage with the community, the state, the local government and the traditional institution toward returning life to normal in the Chibok community.

“That is why we felt that we will involve everybody in the community

“The meeting has been fruitful; we are now on the same page with the community toward returning life to normal.

“Our intention is to complement the military successes against Boko Haram by providing civilian response in terms of resettlement, in terms of restoration of livelihood in the Chibok and other communities affected by the insurgency.”