Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
Development partners providing supports to displaced victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Borno have identified agriculture as a solution to social and economic recovery of the Lake Chad area.
Speaking at an Operational Steering committee of the inclusive economic and social recovery of the Lake Chad area yesterday in Maiduguri, stakeholders noted that building of the capacity of the displaced persons will boost their resilence and resetlement into their communities.
Deputy Country Director, Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organisation, Mathew Jabati, said the stakeholders which included humanitarian support groups, develoment partners and government agencies resolved to pursue the Lake Chad Inclusive Economic and Social recovery (RESILAC), a new concept for the Lake Chad region developed to help people resetle to their communities.
“It is a new concept for the Lake Chad region. Building skill from the focus of unemployment by vulnerable youths is key to this concept and agriculture is the way out because it is the major, biggest economic activity of the people in the region,” he said.
He said the programme was midwived by Action Against Hunger, in partnership with Borno State Governement, through the ministries of Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Reasources, Youth and Poverty Alleviation, Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resetlement and added that 300 youths are being trained in local governments that are accessible for now. “We move into any area that is safe or where security is improving,” he said.
About three million people have been displaced in the Boko Haram insurgency that has plagued the North East state for over a decade now.