The Federal Government, yesterday, assured residents of the northern part of the country, especially the North East geopolitical zone, of rebuilding its economic infrastructure devastated by terrorists.
The government further expressed determination to bring to an end, the acts of terrorism being carried out by the Islamic sect – Boko Haram - whose attacks have wreaked havoc in the region.
Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, briefed journalists after a meeting between President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the Northern Traditional Rulers Council led by its chairman and Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammadu Sa’ad Abubakar.
About 13 traditional rulers, Vice President Namadi Sambo and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Ayim Pius Ayim, attended the meeting.
Maku, quoting President Jonathan, described the meeting as fruitful, saying: “The northern traditional rulers led by His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, paid a courtesy call on the President, to discuss the current security situation, particularly in the North East.
“Their visit followed the meeting of northern traditional rulers in Kaduna yesterday (Wednesday) where it was resolved that they should brief the President and make their own observations on the current security situation and uggestions on what could be done to achieve results known to him..
“The meeting went very well; it was a good consultation. The traditional rulers gave their own perspective of what is going on particularly in the North East.
They also suggested to government things they believe should be done to enhance security operations in the region.
“Mr President, in his explanation, gave them a blow-by-blow account of measures being taken by the Federal Government to deal with the insurgency; to deal with the socio-economic issues, particularly in the North East.
“He mentioned, particularly, efforts by NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency) to provide relief for internally-displaced persons.
“Mr. President also mentioned that recently the Federal Government gave about N750 million to a number of states in the insurgency areas, to ameliorate the plight of internally- displaced persons.
“He said government is determined to change the story in terms of economic intervention. Some of the intervention measures by government include special projects and investments such as government’s efforts to improve security in schools.
“The school safety programme, the foundation to deal with the question of victims of terror and special economic measures to improve the economic situation in the North East with increased investment by the Federal Government are ongoing, including infrastructure provision.
“He gave his words that the situation is changing, and that everything is being done to ensure that we decisively deal with this issue of insurgency and improve security in the North.
“He called particularly for the cooperation of community leaders, traditional rulers and state governments so that working together with the Federal Government, we can achieve better results.”
Earlier, the Estu Nupe in Niger State, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, who spoke on behalf of the Sultan and the council, had given assurances of cooperation of the people to rid the country of terrorists.
He said: “It (visit) is actually sequel to our meeting which we held in Kaduna on September 17 with the chairmen of council of chiefs of the respective 19 states in the North, plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“We held a meeting yesterday (Wednesday) and we discussed two major issues – that is, insecurity and also the economy of the North.
“However, with the quick intervention which we received of recent, and then we saw how the military actually performed especially the operation in Konduga; we saw how they were able to repel the insurgents’ advances there. We feel that, yes, such encouragement should be given to the military to allow them to perform well in order to save the situation.
“On the encouragement aspect also, we believe that certain areas of the economy especially agriculture should be supported.
“And also, we talked about victims; how the victims would be relieved of their sufferings, and also the internally- displaced persons.
“Well, they were happy (over) the audience with the President; those programmes are the sort of policies that have already been laid; certain commissions have already been established.
“So, these are the items that we actually brought forth for Mr. President to address squarely in order to actually have a very smooth and successful operation.
“We are very happy that we have been given some information; some sort of advances that have already been put on ground like when the Vice President gave us a short brief about all those elements that have already been put on ground, like the Victims Support Fund, the intervention fund of N220 billion that is already in the Central Bank, and even the agricultural programmes already on ground for immediate take-off.
“So, we feel that if those programmes are actually implemented as planned, Isha Allah, we shall achieve the desired results.”
Source: Daily Newswatch
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