THE Speaker of the House of
Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has
made calls for the convening of an
international donor's conference that
would holistically tackled the economic
and infrastructural needs of the
northeast of Nigeria which has borne the
brunt of the six-year violent uprising
from adherents of the Jama'atu Ahlus-
Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, known
popularly as Boko Haram.
Dogara first made the call in a motion he
sponsored in August last year, on the
urgent need for rehabilitation, recovery,
reconstruction and resettlement of the
violence ravaged region.
Since then, at every fora, the Speaker
has continued to champion the course
of the north east while arguing that the
region deserves global attention as a
member of the international
community.
His call is in line with what has been
happening since the end of the World
War II where international conferences
like that held for Western Europe and
Japan which were rebuilt following
adoption of the American Marshall Plan,
Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Gaza
and recently for Syria. There is
therefore, no reason why same can't be
done for the north-east of Nigeria. It
should be noted that, the scale of
devastation, destruction and damage in
the region far excedes what happened in
some of the countries and regions listed
above but which the international
community didn't hesitate to support to
rebuild.
The region, even before the violence
erupted years ago, is one of the poorest
in the world. A recent report by the
United Nations Development
Programme, UNDP said Borno state
alone has lost trillions of Naira economic
ally while not fewer than 20,000 people
were killed even though most North east
indigenes are of the view that this figure
is grossly below the actual figure.
All one needs to be convinced about a
call for such is to take a trip to some of
the villages recently liberated in Borno,
Yobe and Adamawa states. Communities
were not only totally razed to the ground
but one is left with no option than to
conclude that the insurgents were all out
to annihilate every living and non-living
beings in the affected areas.
These fundamentalists succeeded in
wasting large swaths of territories in
those states, especially Borno state,
which was the epicenter of the violence.
Presently, officially over 2.2 million
Nigerians are living as Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) in several
states of the country including the
Federal Capital Territory, while
thousands others are refugees in
Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic.
Again, the number of IDPs is far more
than 2.2 million as it ranges between 5
million to 5.5 million because majority
of those displaced are not living camps
but are being housed by relations both
within and outside the affected areas.
To buttressed Dogara's call, UNHCR's
Representative to Nigeria, Ms Angele
Dikongue- Atangana, during the
organisation's 2015 stakeholders'
briefing, urged donors and partners to
take a trip to the 'field' to see the level of
destruction for a first hand assessement
of the situation.
This is because there are dozens of
villages in the northeast that have been
totally destroyed. The attack on Dalori is
still fresh instance. It was reported that
entire houses in the village were
torched. The enormity of the task in
rebuilding the area, especially the cost is
something that even the federal
government might not be able to take on
alone. Hence the call for a donor
conference.
This view is also shared by the Chairman,
Presidential Committee on Northeast
Initiative, retired Lt.-Gen. Theophilus
Danjuma recently, when he said that
conservatively, over two trillion naira
(N2 trillion) will be required in the short-
term to rebuild areas devastated by the
Boko Haram insurgency.
He added that the rebuilding of the
region would require the cooperation of
all, considering that the magnitude of
destruction was beyond the means of
the federal or state governments. He
further noted that rebuilding the
Northeast would demand maximum
cooperation and resources.
The rebuilding effort by governors of
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa are mere
drops in a vast ocean of need that
wouldn't make much difference. For
example, Borno State governor, Kashim
Shettima has been building some houses
in Bama and other local governments.
But without help from outside to address
the destruction in over 20 local
governments that were initially
intermittently occupied and destroyed by
the insurgents, it would not go far.
Moreso, the destruction in Gwoza and
Bama, two of the worst-hit local
governments in Borno and their current
needs goes beyond even the complete
federal allocations that accrue to Borno
state for now. Same for other local
governments in the state and other
northeast states where their need stands
beyond rebuilding houses.
But the utmost importance for the
northeast is not only housing but health
care, women and youth empowerment,
education and agriculture. Sufficiently
meeting these needs would require the
involvement of the international
community. As with these areas
targeted, the people of the northeast
and the region in general stand the
chance of having positive multiplier
effect roll back to them.
This is why the call by the Speaker for an
international donor conference is apt,
timely and holds the solution to
addressing the destruction in the
northeast because other places have
held such international conferences with
success. The recent one was the
International Donors conference for
reconstruction and development in
Dafur, held in Doha, Qatar from 7-8 April
2013.
This donor conference brought together
representatives of the Government of
Sudan, the international donor
community, the development banking
sectors, international and national Non-
Governmental Organizations and
international funds and foundations and
provided a forum for the Darfur Regional
Authority and the Government of Sudan
to discuss with its development partners
the needs for economic recovery,
development and poverty eradication in
the aftermath of the conflict in Darfur.
Likewise the Syrian donor conference
held in London where over $10 billion
was pledged so much that the
UnitedNations (UN) Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon hailed the conference as a
"great success," saying, "Never has the
international community raised so much
money on a single day for a single crisis."
Just like the speaker noted, the world
now is a global village in which the effect
of a massive population shift within the
northeast could have spiraling effect on
the world. Europe is battling to halt the
massive influx of refugees from Syria,
Iraq and the middle east; it is therefore
in the collective interest of the
international community that funds are
raised to resettle the IDPs and refugees
from Nigeria so as to avoid another
surge to the mediteranian sea where
thounsands of migrants are dying every
year in their desperate effort to cross to
Eupore.
Already the impact of the effect of the
insurgents is felt in our neighboring
countries and the need for such
conference now can't be
overemphasised. Consequently, just like
the speaker has done, the leaders of this
country should start persuading world
leaders and work toward having
something like that, even if it's in Africa.
And Dogara, deserve not only to be
supported but also commended by all
for his consistency in pushing for the
convocation of the confab. The
responsiblity of doing that now rests
with the Federal government or the
Executive as the parliament or
legislature cannot delve into that since it
is not within its powers to do so.
Mr. Turaki Hassan, is SA (Media & Public
Affairs) to Rt. Hon. Speaker, House of
Representatives.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has
made calls for the convening of an
international donor's conference that
would holistically tackled the economic
and infrastructural needs of the
northeast of Nigeria which has borne the
brunt of the six-year violent uprising
from adherents of the Jama'atu Ahlus-
Sunnah Lidda'Awati Wal Jihad, known
popularly as Boko Haram.
Dogara first made the call in a motion he
sponsored in August last year, on the
urgent need for rehabilitation, recovery,
reconstruction and resettlement of the
violence ravaged region.
Since then, at every fora, the Speaker
has continued to champion the course
of the north east while arguing that the
region deserves global attention as a
member of the international
community.
His call is in line with what has been
happening since the end of the World
War II where international conferences
like that held for Western Europe and
Japan which were rebuilt following
adoption of the American Marshall Plan,
Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, Gaza
and recently for Syria. There is
therefore, no reason why same can't be
done for the north-east of Nigeria. It
should be noted that, the scale of
devastation, destruction and damage in
the region far excedes what happened in
some of the countries and regions listed
above but which the international
community didn't hesitate to support to
rebuild.
The region, even before the violence
erupted years ago, is one of the poorest
in the world. A recent report by the
United Nations Development
Programme, UNDP said Borno state
alone has lost trillions of Naira economic
ally while not fewer than 20,000 people
were killed even though most North east
indigenes are of the view that this figure
is grossly below the actual figure.
All one needs to be convinced about a
call for such is to take a trip to some of
the villages recently liberated in Borno,
Yobe and Adamawa states. Communities
were not only totally razed to the ground
but one is left with no option than to
conclude that the insurgents were all out
to annihilate every living and non-living
beings in the affected areas.
These fundamentalists succeeded in
wasting large swaths of territories in
those states, especially Borno state,
which was the epicenter of the violence.
Presently, officially over 2.2 million
Nigerians are living as Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) in several
states of the country including the
Federal Capital Territory, while
thousands others are refugees in
Cameroon, Chad and Niger Republic.
Again, the number of IDPs is far more
than 2.2 million as it ranges between 5
million to 5.5 million because majority
of those displaced are not living camps
but are being housed by relations both
within and outside the affected areas.
To buttressed Dogara's call, UNHCR's
Representative to Nigeria, Ms Angele
Dikongue- Atangana, during the
organisation's 2015 stakeholders'
briefing, urged donors and partners to
take a trip to the 'field' to see the level of
destruction for a first hand assessement
of the situation.
This is because there are dozens of
villages in the northeast that have been
totally destroyed. The attack on Dalori is
still fresh instance. It was reported that
entire houses in the village were
torched. The enormity of the task in
rebuilding the area, especially the cost is
something that even the federal
government might not be able to take on
alone. Hence the call for a donor
conference.
This view is also shared by the Chairman,
Presidential Committee on Northeast
Initiative, retired Lt.-Gen. Theophilus
Danjuma recently, when he said that
conservatively, over two trillion naira
(N2 trillion) will be required in the short-
term to rebuild areas devastated by the
Boko Haram insurgency.
He added that the rebuilding of the
region would require the cooperation of
all, considering that the magnitude of
destruction was beyond the means of
the federal or state governments. He
further noted that rebuilding the
Northeast would demand maximum
cooperation and resources.
The rebuilding effort by governors of
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa are mere
drops in a vast ocean of need that
wouldn't make much difference. For
example, Borno State governor, Kashim
Shettima has been building some houses
in Bama and other local governments.
But without help from outside to address
the destruction in over 20 local
governments that were initially
intermittently occupied and destroyed by
the insurgents, it would not go far.
Moreso, the destruction in Gwoza and
Bama, two of the worst-hit local
governments in Borno and their current
needs goes beyond even the complete
federal allocations that accrue to Borno
state for now. Same for other local
governments in the state and other
northeast states where their need stands
beyond rebuilding houses.
But the utmost importance for the
northeast is not only housing but health
care, women and youth empowerment,
education and agriculture. Sufficiently
meeting these needs would require the
involvement of the international
community. As with these areas
targeted, the people of the northeast
and the region in general stand the
chance of having positive multiplier
effect roll back to them.
This is why the call by the Speaker for an
international donor conference is apt,
timely and holds the solution to
addressing the destruction in the
northeast because other places have
held such international conferences with
success. The recent one was the
International Donors conference for
reconstruction and development in
Dafur, held in Doha, Qatar from 7-8 April
2013.
This donor conference brought together
representatives of the Government of
Sudan, the international donor
community, the development banking
sectors, international and national Non-
Governmental Organizations and
international funds and foundations and
provided a forum for the Darfur Regional
Authority and the Government of Sudan
to discuss with its development partners
the needs for economic recovery,
development and poverty eradication in
the aftermath of the conflict in Darfur.
Likewise the Syrian donor conference
held in London where over $10 billion
was pledged so much that the
UnitedNations (UN) Secretary General
Ban Ki-moon hailed the conference as a
"great success," saying, "Never has the
international community raised so much
money on a single day for a single crisis."
Just like the speaker noted, the world
now is a global village in which the effect
of a massive population shift within the
northeast could have spiraling effect on
the world. Europe is battling to halt the
massive influx of refugees from Syria,
Iraq and the middle east; it is therefore
in the collective interest of the
international community that funds are
raised to resettle the IDPs and refugees
from Nigeria so as to avoid another
surge to the mediteranian sea where
thounsands of migrants are dying every
year in their desperate effort to cross to
Eupore.
Already the impact of the effect of the
insurgents is felt in our neighboring
countries and the need for such
conference now can't be
overemphasised. Consequently, just like
the speaker has done, the leaders of this
country should start persuading world
leaders and work toward having
something like that, even if it's in Africa.
And Dogara, deserve not only to be
supported but also commended by all
for his consistency in pushing for the
convocation of the confab. The
responsiblity of doing that now rests
with the Federal government or the
Executive as the parliament or
legislature cannot delve into that since it
is not within its powers to do so.
Mr. Turaki Hassan, is SA (Media & Public
Affairs) to Rt. Hon. Speaker, House of
Representatives.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
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