By; MOHAMMED KAWU, Bauchi.
Governor Abubakar Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi has urged the Federal Government to pay priority attention to addressing the underlying factors that prepared the grounds for breeding insurgent groups in the Northeast sub-region of the country.
He gave the underlying factors as abject poverty and illiteracy among youths and women groups, stressing that all concerted efforts in rehabilitating and reconstructing the Northeast must be accompanied by conscious effort to enhance the ability of the internally displaced persons to participate in economic activities.
Abubakar, who was addressing members of the Economic Development Sub-Committee of the Presidential Committee on Northeast Initiative (PCNI) when they him courtesy visit in Bauchi, said “Your job is to reconstruct the Northeast. You need to start with physical infrastructure, but it is also important to resettle the internally displaced persons and address the underlying factors that brought about the insurgency.
The Governor while observing that previous attempts to reconstruct the Northeast region have failed, noted with satisfaction that current efforts have started yielding fruitful results under President Muhammadu Buhari.
He supported the prioritization of the “frontline states” ravaged by the insurgency in the reconstruction initiative, and called for greater attention to states which he termed “peripheral states” like Bauchi that provide sanctuary to those fleeing the insurgency.
Governor Mohammed Abubakar lamented that with the influx of internally displaced persons to Bauchi State, critical infrastructures like hospitals and schools and lean resources in government coffers are being heavily overstretched.
He recalled that before the insurgency, Bauchi metropolis required about 12.5 million liters of water daily, but with the influx of IDPs fleeing crises in neighboring states of Plateau, Yobe, Borno and Adamawa, the state capital now requires 25 million liters of every day, which overstretches the state’s coffers.
Abubakar also referred the committee to the report of the Northeast Economic Summit which contains comprehensive analysis of the economic state of the sub-region and recommendations on how to turn around its fortunes, saying economic activities of the region requires revitalization for all the IDPs to be easily reintegrated into their respective communities.
Speaking earlier, Chairman of the Economic Development Sub-Committee of the Presidential Committee on the Northeast Initiative, Hon. Yusuf Buba Yakubu said the Committee was mandated to coordinate all interventions coming to the Northeast for humanitarian services.
Hon. Yusuf Yakubu explained that the committee was in Bauchi to investigate the problems being faced by the IDPS and the sub-region, especially in agricultural, health and education sectors, as well as international trade through direct engagements with stakeholders.
