Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the N10 billion take-off grant for the North-East Development Commission (NEDC), has been caputed in the 2019 budget.
He made the disclosure yesterday during inaugurtion of the commission during which he charged members to shift focus from humanitarian services to developmental and infrastructural projects.
The president named the projects to include reconstruction of roads, houses, educational institutions and business premises destroyed by Boko Haram.
The commission had last month presented a budget of N55 billion to the Senate out of which the grant of N10 billion is for humanitarian interventions.
The inauguration took place before the commencement of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
The NEDC is charged with the responsibility of, among other things, receiving and managing funds allocated by the Federal Government and international donors for the resettlement, rehabilitation, integration and reconstruction of roads, houses and business premises of victims of insurgency and terrorism.
The commission is also charged with the responsibility of tackling the menace of poverty, illiteracy, ecological problems and any other related environmental or developmental challenges in the North East states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba, Yobe
In his remark, the president Buhari charged the board to immediately swing into action by conducting a comprehensive survey across the six states of the zone, to determine the needs therein and produce an intervention master plan.
“You shall as a matter of urgency, conduct comprehensive survey of all states in the zone to determine the reconstruction and rehabilitation needs of all the socio-economic sectors of the zone and develop an intervention based on the outcome of your assessment.”
“The commission is charged with the responsibility of among other things, receiving and managing funds allocated by the Federal Government of Nigeria and donors for the resettlement of rehabilitation, integration and construction of roads, houses and business premises of victims of insurgency as well as checking the menace of poverty, illiteracy, ecological problems, and other related environmental and developmental challenges in the North-eastern states.
“Develop policies and implementation guidelines for immediate intervention of the development of the zone, institute a strong mechanism for effective and efficient coordination of all the stake holders, local and international activities, starting by taking over all federally funded activities, projects and programmes as well as structures and logistics assets that the organisations utilise.
“In order to avoid duplication of efforts and waste of scarce resources, you shall be the focal organisation to access, coordinate, harmonise and report on all the intervention programmes and initiatives that the Federal Government or any of its ministries are involved in the region.
You must, therefore, constantly liaise with the relevant federal ministries, departments and agencies, states and other developmental partners for the implementation of all programmes and initiatives and proper utilization of funds released for intervention in the zone.
“It is, therefore, the expectation of this government and people of the zone that you will rapidly and systematically set to work and address all areas of your mandate in a fair and equitable manner.”Buhari concluded.