Measures in place to launch N100bn youth development fund in North East ― Nwajiuba

Federal Government on Tuesday assured that measures are in place to launch  N100 billion Youth Enterprise Fund as part of efforts geared toward addressing various socio-economic challenges facing the North-East geopolitical zone.

Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who gave the assurance in Abuja during the ‘NEDC’s consultative meeting with federal MDAs and security agencies on the North East Stabilization and Development Master Plan’.

As encapsulated in the Master Plan and establishment of the enterprise, the Commission is expected to measure its successes by ensuring the reverse ranking in global terrorism index, improvement of the GDP per capital growth, regional human development index and raise productive citizens level up to 70 percent.

In the bid to achieve the set objectives in the Master Plan, the recovery and stabilization phase is for 2020 – 2022 while the renewal phase span between 2022 and 2024.

In the bid to achieve the feat, Hon. Nwajiuba stressed the need for the commission and relevant stakeholders to invest in the quality of human development.

In her remarks, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, tasked all MDAs to key into the institutionalization and operationalization of relevant frameworks as humanitarian action and disaster risk reduction is a multi-stakeholder undertaking.

The minister who showered encomium on President Muhammadu Buhari for the establishment of the ministry applauded prior efforts that led to the establishment of the NEDC through various organizations set up by the Nigerian government were involved in the reconstruction, rehabilitation and provision of humanitarian action to the people of the North East.

“Today, we are gathered here for a consultation, in compliance with Mr President’s directive to the NEDC Board to constantly liaise with the relevant Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), States and other Developmental Partners for the implementation of all programs and initiatives and proper utilisation of funds released for intervention in the zone.

“I acknowledge that the convening of this consultative session is in compliance with both Section 8(1c) of the NEDC Act, as well as the presidential directive to the NEDC Board, I wish to therefore commend the NEDC Board for sticking to the plan and following due process in its implementation.

“Despite being in the process of developing the Master Plan, I am pleased to state the NEDC has not been static and continues to leave its footprints across all the North East states with life-changing projects and programmes for our citizens. I have personally commissioned several projects that have received positive feedback from the Governors of North East States.

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“It is important to note that our strategic focus at the Ministry now is the provision of coordinated sustainable humanitarian action centred on the global best principle, the ‘Triple Nexus’ approach. This is anchored in a home-grown National Humanitarian-Development-Peace framework developed through a consultative process aimed at reducing vulnerabilities to support and promote peace and stability in Nigeria.

“We are also pushing for the principles of localisation through institutional strengthening and capacity building of local stakeholders including affected communities, civil societies, non-governmental organisations and of course national government. This is guided by the National localization framework developed and validated, which is focused on making all humanitarian interventions as local as possible.”

Speaking earlier, NEDC Chairman, Major General Paul Tarfa explained that the Commission which was set up to address the destructions in the North-East Region caused by the insurgency, as one of the best legacies of President Buhari, decried the losses of thousands of lives and property, displacement of millions of people of the region, loss of means of livelihoods of the people, the psychological trauma on the citizens cannot be quantified.

According to him, “the 2016 report on the Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) on the crisis in the North-East Region produced by the Nigerian Government, World Bank, United Nations and European Union shows that property worth $9 billion were destroyed in the Region. Up to $6.7 billion was the estimated cost of recovery and peace-building across the so affected States in the region for four years only.

“One can only imagine how much investment in human capital, economic development and infrastructure will be required in a decade or two to rebuild the region.

“The Regional Master Plan will come up with a proposed Financing Strategy. However, due to present economic realities, the burden of implementing the Master Plan will be huge.

“The enormity and cost of rebuilding the North-East is high, hence all Stakeholders, both in the public and private sectors, need to garner resources to achieve that. Therefore, it is imperative that some critical and timely steps are taken in this direction. I wish to recommend to the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs to consider the following initiatives to address the funding challenges: further legislation to improve funding for the Region, convening of a donor/funding conference for the North-East Region.”

He also underscored the need for robust Monitoring, Evaluation and Coordination Framework to ensure good governance and transparency in the execution of projects; civil-military relationship; human Capital Development in relevant professions and competencies; special initiatives for Women, Youths and Persons Living with Disabilities; streamlining and aligning of Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) initiatives in the Region Proper Coordination with all Development Partners and Donors and completion of viable abandoned projects.

“Considering the importance of education to the region, the commission has established an ambitious Education Endowment Fund with an initial seed capital of N6 billion, which is replenishable annually with 10% of budgetary allocation of the commission.

“The Fund is for the award of scholarships, capital building for Teachers, Nurses and other Medical Workers, Agricultural Extension Officers, and other professionals. This is necessary to address the poor human capital indices of the Region, which is reported to be one of the lowest in the country,” he noted.