Insurgency: Yobe needs N20bn to reconstruct damaged infrastructure —Gov

YOBE State will need up to N20 billion to reconstruct infrastructure damage by the activities of Boko Haram terrorists in the state.

The state governor, Ibrahim Geidam, who made this disclosure after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Thursday.

He is hoping that the Federal Government will make the money available for the job.

The governor also said there were about 3,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) still in various camps and waiting to be resettled in the state.

He said he was at the Presidential Villa to advise the president on how to deal with the issue as far as the state was concerned.

While noting that all three local government areas previously controlled by Boko Haram in Yobe had been liberated, he said life had gradually returned to normality in the state.

Fielding questions from corespondents, he stated: “Yobe State experienced the negative effects of insurgency for about two or three years. There were times when the Boko Haram terrorists occupied two of our local government areas of Gulani and Gujiba before they were liberated.

“As I speak, we have about 3,000 IDPs who are still in our camp.

“By our estimates, actually if the Federal Government spends anything from N10 billion to N20 billion,  the whole area which was destroyed by Boko Haram will be reconstructed and people will go back to their homes and resume their normal lives.

“All the other people, except these 3000 have returned to their homes, that is part of the reason I came here to advise Mr President on how best these people could be resettled.

“Because they need a kind of rehabilitation of their destroyed homes by Boko Haram, some need outright reconstruction of their homes especially those which were completely destroyed by the Boko Haram terrorists.

“So, I came here to give Mr President with firsthand information of things on ground there.

“I briefed him of how much we were able to do to resettle those who have gone back home and then what the Federal Government can do to the remaining ones so that they can go back and settle fully in their homes and resume their normal business activities.”

On the president’s response to his request for support, Geidam said Buhari was quite positive.

Also at the Presidential Villa to see the president on Thursday was Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, who assured that peace had returned to the state.

He attributed it to the attitude of the new leadership, which he said encouraged change in the people.