Boko Haram: Presidential Committee on North-East meets in Abuja

Members of the Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNI), has commenced work on ways to start effective implementation of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan on the humanitarian crisis in the North East.

The committee, set up to coordinate leadership and direction for the various initiatives in the region and saddled with implementing the Buhari’s plan of reversing the devastating conditions created by the destruction by Boko Haram ,said that it was determined to work out modalities that would give the plans a desired impact.

It had its first plenary for the year in Abuja, where issues of malnutrition and over a million out-of-school children were prioritised.

Speaking after the meeting, a member of the committee and immediate past Senate Leader, Senator Ali Ndume, said that access to healthcare and rekindling of education among the populace remained the principal things that the committee needed to address.

He said that although the ultimate goal of the committee was on rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement, its members were trying to prioritise the projects.

He said, “our meeting centred on the humanitarian crises in the Northeast, which you know food, security, malnutrition of children, access to healthcare and rekindling of education are the principal things that we need to address.

“We are now more or less laying the foundation before we launch full swing on the activities of the PCNI

“You know it is a Presidential intervention so to say, and we want to lay a solid foundation. All the meetings we have been having is to lay a solid foundation and execute the Buhari plan which is the mandate given to us

Most of the people affected are subsistence farmers and most of the IDP’s are living with the host communities. We are trying to strategise first. We have to save the people, then secondly save the children that are having acute malnutrition

“We are trying to reach out to them; we are trying to take the children back to school. “Some of the children have been out of school for three to six years and it is dangerous for the future of this country

“The target is to work with states, Federal Government and other international donor agencies to make sure that the about one million children with no access to education have access.

“Prior to these crises, the Northeast was an area that is believed to be the poorest on earth because of the challenges of poverty, education, environment, among others. Insurgency has only added to the problems,” he said.

Earlier, the vice chairman of the committee, Alhaji Tijani Tumsah, disclosed that the committee had engaged with military personnel carrying out activities in the field and would work to fill the gap on needs of internally-displaced persons there.

Going forward, he said the committee would work in sync with other relevant stakeholders to fill up the observed gap and deploy scarce resources to enhance delivery of mandate.

Tumsah acknowledged that the committee had high intervention schedules in the affected area which include rehabilitation of schools and enhancement of high-impact projects.

According to him, the vision of the Buhari administration’s plan remained a safe, secure and prosperous north east region that was a major asset to the country and a global model for post-conflict socio-economic recovery and development.