By; SUNDAY ODE, Abuja.
Yobe Governor, Ibrahim Geidam has said his state alone would need between N10 and N20 billion to fully recover from the destruction inflicted by Boko Haram insurgents.
He said a good chunck of that money would be spent on the reconstruction of the homes of Boko Haram victims in order to resettle them.
The governor however expressed happiness that the State was now peaceful, stressing that the two local government areas previously occupied by the insurgents had since been liberated.
Also, Plateau Governor, Solomon Lalung expressed regret over the death of a traditional ruler, allegedly murdered in cold blood by unknown persons.
They spoke at separate interviews by State House correspondents after they had separaly met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Geidam revealed that many of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were hitherto quartered in different camps had returned home for normal living.
The governor said he was at the seat of power to brief the President on the developments.
He said: “In Yobe state, we experienced insurgency for about two or three years. There were times when the Boko Haram terrorists occupied two of our local government areas of Gulani and Gujiba before they were liberated. As I am talking to you now, we have more than 3000 IDPs in our camp.
“All of them except these 3000 have returned to their homes. That is why I am here to advise Mr President on how best these people should be resettled.
“Because they need a kind of rehabilitation of their destroyed homes by Boko Haram, some need outright reconstruction of their homes especially those which were completely destroyed by the Boko Haram terrorists. So, I came here to give him first hand information of things on ground there.
“I briefed him of how much we were able to do to resettle those who have gone back home and then what the federal government wants the remaining ones to do. So that they will go back and settle fully in their homes and resume their normal business activities.
“By our estimates, actually if the federal government spends anything from 10 to 20 billion, the whole area which was destroyed by Boko Haram will be reconstructed and people will go back to their homes and resume their normal lives.
“We have gotten relative peace. People are going about their normal lives and businesses. No threat to security of lives and property in any part of Yobe. We do not have any threats of Boko Haram anywhere in Yobe as I speak with you right now.”
Geidam also told the newsmen that his requests to the President received positive responses.
“His responses were very positive. He appreciated my coming and he promised that he would look into all those issues I raised”, he said.
His Plateau counterpart who spoke with newmen, after an interval, observed that the traditional ruler’s killers wanted to stir up another round of crisis on the Plateau.
He however stated that the situation had been brought under control, even as he vowed to bring the perpetrator to book.
“I think the attitude of leadership itself will encourage Change. You will recall that when I came into office, I inherited crisis, killings everyday and the moment I was sworn in after a month we never heard of any killing in Plateau. So confidence restored and we encouraged people to interact, gave everybody a sense of belonging and there is now peace in the state.
“Those who are running away from Plateau as no go areas, in the past you have places where Christians don’t go and places where Muslims don’t go but right now in Jos they have forgotten they was something like that. So now it’s a free place for everybody.
“We just celebrated our one year of peace on the Plateau and everybody was celebrating because we wanted to maintain the peaceful atmosphere. When I traveled out for just two days, a prominent traditional ruler was brutally murdered and I rushed back and investigation is still ongoing.
“I am hopeful very soon we will unveil those behind the killing of the traditional rulers. I have not slept on it and those are the things I have briefed the President. We are very vigilant and pursuing those who are behind this. Because after a year of peace, someone will come and start executing this kind of thing.
“Its someone that does not wish not only Plateau but Nigeria well, because if that happens, and crisis starts again, you will see a lot of spill-over crisis in many parts of the country but thank God we are able to control that and to avoid future occurrence. We are protecting the state very well and ensure that the culprits will be soon be fished out.”
Governor Lalung also disclosed that Plateau State which is competing with Kebbi in local rice production would be exporting the agricultural produce next year.
