Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The Northeast Development Commission (NEDC) said it was touring the camps of people displaced by Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State to assess humanitarian situation and to verify data at its disposal.
Addressing journalists at the Customs House Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp at the outskirt of Maiduguri, yesterday, the Managing Director of the Commission, Dr Mohammed Alkali, disclosed that the commission’s tour of IDPs camp would help in understanding the data available to it and the reality on ground.
Reacting to a question from Saturday Sun on why the commission needed to visit IDPs camps despite several available data on the humanitarian situation in the northeast and how it could assess the situation in very brief hours of the tour, he said the commission was aware that many development partners and humanitarian organisations have done a lot of researches and engagement but said the commission cannot act until it verifies such information collated. He explained that the mandate of the commission was principally to reconstruct public infrastructure destroyed in the decade of Boko Haram violence, rehabilitate and resetle victims of the conflict.
Meanwhile, the state emergency management agency (SEMA) said it will collaborate with the northeast development commission to address the humanitarian and development challenges created by insurgency. It however said it plans to equally engage in management of other emergencies.