Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, has urged National Assembly and the North East Development Commission (NEDC) to assist in returning and empowering displaced persons in the state. He said over one million Internally-Displaced Persons (IDPs) were clamouring to return to their ancestral homes.
Zulum made the call, at the weekend, while receiving 18-member House Committee on Commission on Oversight Function at the Government House in Maiduguri.
He said: “Right now, we have a large number of IDPs in camps and host communities in Borno. It is no longer sustainable for them to depend on handouts of international non-governmental organisations and United Nations humanitarian agencies for survival…”
He said the return of IDPs would enable them to engage in agricultural and livelihood activities, while regretting that already, “there are increasing rates of drug abuse, gangsters and procreation in camps.”
Zulum revealed that Boko Haram was recruiting children into the sect, because of unemployment and poverty. adding that there was need for the House Committee to interface with larger House Committee to look into the possibility of empowering the youths in the state. This, he said, would also address the root causes of insurgency, “which are not limited to poverty, illiteracy, social inequality, unemployment and environmental degradation.”
Responding, House Committee Chairperson for Commission, Khadijah Bukar Abba Ibrahim, assured that the National Assembly would appropriate more funds for the Commission to carry out its functions.
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