Posted on: 04:43 Wed, 28 Oct 2015



Speaking at the opening ceremony of the North- East Humanitarian Multi-Stakeholders Engagement on Tuesday in Maiduguri, the Chairman of the Presidential Committee on North-East Intervention, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, said N233bn was needed for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the communities ravaged by the Boko Haram sect.

The chairman of PCNI, who was represented by a member of the committee, Mohammed Danjuma, said the rebuilding of the ravaged states needed proper coordination to alleviate the sufferings of the Internally Displaced Persons.

He said the Federal Government and other
stakeholders are determined to manage the humanitarian crisis in the region, adding that the IDPs would return to their communities after the reconstruction of their destroyed communities.

VP Osinbajo said:

“This region has suffered tremendously in
the past six years. It has suffered from the
destruction of infrastructure, farmlands,
businesses, trades, the destruction of
schools and the loss of school years.

“Rebuilding, restoring and rehabilitation will cost money and time. But neither money nor time can fix the trauma of loss of family members, relations and friends, the shame of the raped, the scars and fears of
parents of the abducted and the
kidnapped, the bewilderment that comes
with loss of homes, possessions and
livelihoods and the pains of hundreds of
thousands of orphaned children.”

“The tasks before us are many and
profound, to fix brick and mortar and to
mend hearts and minds damaged by
senseless murderous violence. But we are
called not just to mend the hearts and
minds of the victims but also of their
traducers, and killers.

“The young men and women who have
been brainwashed to kill, maim and destroy in the warped belief that by so doing they please God, they are also victims. Indeed,
these perpetrators are themselves victims,
trapped in the vortex of evil manipulation,
compelled to dehumanise themselves as
they shed the blood of the innocent.

“It is our duty to deconstruct the narrative
that causes men to kill children on their
beds at a boarding school at night even as
we degrade the military capacity of the
insurgents. The tasks are indeed many and profound.

“But while there is still so much to do,
much has been done already. The many
civil society groups, funding partners,
regional and international partners who
have given of their time, resources and
even their lives in some cases, deserve to
be commended. But for you, first
responders, we would have been far worse
off than we are today.”

He added, “We are in Maiduguri to show
humanity and to give milk of human kindness to our brothers and sisters who for six years have been ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency by killing, maiming and abduction of innocent people.”

PUNCH