The cost of the destruction caused by Boko Haram insurgency in the North east has been put at about $9 billion, that is an estimated N3 trillion at the current parallel market exchange rate.
The governor of Borno State gave this estimate on Wednesday when some members of the House of Representatives paid him a courtesy call at the Government House, Maiduguri.
The legislators are in the North east to solicited the support of governors and other stakeholders in the region for the establishment of North-East Development Commission, NEDCOM, to fast track reconstruction and rehabilitation of impacted communities and to assist in the return of an estimated 2.8 million Internally Displaced Persons, IDPS, back to their homes.
Governor Shettima, who expressed support for the establishment of the commission, said that the legislators would have delivered 50 per cent of their mandate to the people of the region by creating the special purpose vehicle for the reconstruction of the devastated region.
“The Northeast Development Commission is an idea whose time has come and whose time is now. Nothing stops an idea whose time it is,” he stated.
The governor lamented that the region was already the most backward in all indices of development before the insurgency and that the Boko Haram only worsened the situation.
“In Nigeria, which is one of the five countries, the Human Development Index report of 2013 identifies the Northeast as the poorest in the country where between 67% and 69% of the population live in abject poverty. Series of maternal mortality index reports on Nigeria, places the North East Zone as having the highest mortality rate of 1,549 deaths per 100,000 live births which is in very sharp contrast with what obtains in the South West Zone that has the lowest mortality rate of 165 deaths per 100,000 live births,” governor Shettima stated.
However, he observed that that the insurgency had united the political leadership of the North east for the first time in a long time, adding, “if there is one thing the Boko Haram has forced us to do as a region is that for the very first time since 1999, leaders in the northeast have set aside political and ethno-religious differences to fuse into one entity for the purpose of pursuing a course that is purely developmental with absolutely nothing to do with politics.”
The leader of the House of Representatives delegation, Mohammed Monguno, representing Monguno/Marte/Nganzai federal constituency, also lamented the state of the region and said that it needs a development commission to address the damage caused by insurgency.
“All these antecedent problems, both social and economic and otherwise, that have been brought to this sub-region, can only be overcome by establishing a commission like the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC),” he stated.
He said that the insurgency has impacted on all spheres of life in the region including the economy, infrastructure as well as the social life of the people.
Monguno said the commission will be statutorily charged with the responsibilities of handling the developmental challenges of the Northeast occasioned by the Boko Haram insurgency.
“Funds are going to be specifically earmarked for the purpose of the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Northeast,” he said.
He said that it was in realization of the urgent need for the federal government to help in the reconstruction of the North east that made the Speaker of the House of Representatives to sponsor the NEDCOM which he said had passed the first and second reading and is now awaiting public hearing.
“As a result of that; we decided to come out and solicit for the support and understanding of our leaders so that they can extend their hands of fellowship for establishing the commission,” said Monguno.
The legislator appealed to governor Shettima to help gain the support of other governors and other leaders in the region for the setting up of the development commission.