From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government has said the assessment and validation exercise recently completed in the North-East region of the country has put the extent of damages at $9 billion while over $6 billionwould be needed for immediate and near-stabilisation and recovery of the region.
Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the Vice President, Laolu Akande, in a statement released yesterday night said this was revealed at the conclusion of the pre-financing assessment jointly carried out by federal, states governments alongside global partners – the United Nations, World Bank and the European Union, at a workshop in Abuja, last week.
He said plans to rebuild the region has reached an advanced stage and hope has risen for displaced persons (IDPs) to return to their homes and communities.
Akande said the global partners, who had signed a tripartite agreement to facilitate the assessment, are expected to support “the federal government in the financing of the North East reconstruction including an offer by the World Bank to make available $800 million towards rebuilding.”
He said the global partners have also agreed to put in place an institutional framework to rebuild, arrange financing from other development agencies and additional sources.
“The assessment and validation exercises completed in Nigeria’s North-East region has revealed the quantum of damage and the requirements to address the post- conflict recovery.
“For instance while the extent of damage was put at about $9 billion, the assessment revealed that over $6 billion would be needed for immediate and near term stabilization and recovery of the region.
“During the final aspects of the assessment late last week in Abuja, international development partners and donors reiterated their commitments towards ensuring that key findings of the assessments are implemented.
“This re-assurance was secured after the completion of the two-day validation and consensus building workshop at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, convened by the Federal Government, World Bank, the European Union and the United Nations in conjunction with representatives of the six affected states to review findings and chart way forward.
The assessments were carried out under the three main components of Infrastructure and Social Services, Peace Building, Stability & Social Cohesion, and Economic Recovery with focus on cross-cutting issues such as governance and accountability, citizen engagement, institutional capacity for implementation, gender, youth, human rights and de-mining.