By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
The North East Development Commission (NEDC) in collaboration with the Bauchi State government on Thursday laid the foundation stone for the construction of 500 houses across the state.
Speaking during the ceremony held at the site of the construction, Dungal village along the Bauchi along Jos Road, the Chief Executive Officer NEDC Mohammed G. Alkali said that the commission was established to address developmental challenges in the North-east region and to restore means of livelihood of the people following the over 12 years of insurgency.
He said the insurgency situation has led to the massive influx of people in the urban areas with most of them taking shelter in any available public spaces, homes, Schools, huts, abandoned and uncompleted buildings, while many trooped to neighbouring North Eastern States just as hundreds settled in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the States.
He said that when the Commission was established, part of its mandate included rehabilitation and reconstruction of destroyed homes and commercial premises of citizens in the Region.
”Investigations by experts revealed that the stock of houses in the North-Eastern states before the insurgency was about 4 million, out of which over 500,000 structures (houses and commercial premises) were destroyed or irreparably damaged, which before the insurgency, there was a Housing deficit in all the States of the Region.
“Therefore, the insurgency only further aggravated the situation while in all of this, Borno State being the epicentre of the crisis is worst hit with the largest number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)”
“In 2019, President, Muhammadu Buhari approved a special Presidential intervention in Borno State (SPIB) in order to reduce the desperate situation that displaced communities in the state had found themselves through the construction of 10,000 houses and the establishment of Technical and Vocational Skills Acquisition Centres for the IDPs amongst others”
“Approved also was the execution of the SPIB, which was resolved that the NEDC undertakes the construction of the first 1,000 houses and fully fund the equipping of the Technical and Vocational/Skills Centres around the State. The first 1,000 Houses were executed at Ngowom Village, Mafa Local Government of Borno State and handed over to the Governor of Borno State, Professor Baba Gana Umara Zullum, he said.
On his part, the Bauchi State Governor, Senator Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir while laying the foundation for the construction of 500 housing units said the State Government will complement the efforts of the federal government in every way possible.