Commission to construct 10,000 houses for Borno IDPs

The North East Development Commission (NEDC) says it plans to construct 10,000 houses for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno state.

NEDC Managing Director, Alhaji Mohammed Alkali, disclosed this at the official ground breaking ceremony of the President Muhammadu Buhari Special Intervention Project in Ngom, Mafa Local Government Area of the state on Friday.

Alkali said that the project would help address housing needs of the IDPs in the state.

He observed that about six per cent of houses in the state have been destroyed due to the Boko Haram insurgency, adding that the total value of property destroyed by the insurgents was about $9.6 billion dollars.

Alkali said that the federal government has approved a national housing programme where the state would get another 8,800 houses.

He however, observed that the houses would not be enough for the state and urged the federal government to look into the possibility of increasing the state’s slot to 20,000.

“I am making a passionate appeal to the minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development to see that the state gets additional 20,000 houses alongside the ones we are having today.

“The housing project will be executed as quickly as possible to facilitate the return of those displaced,” Alkali said.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, said the special project was a pointer to President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment towards rebuilding of the North East.

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Farouq said that 100 houses would be built in Ngon, while the rest 900 would be spread across nine other local government areas in the state.

Governor Babagana Zulum, lauded Buhari for the project which he said would help in facilitating the return of many IDPs back to their ancestral home.

Gov. Zulum, who noted that the state has over 1.5 million IDPs, said his administration was committed to ensuring that all IDP camps in Maiduguri metropolis and Jere Local Government Area were closed on or before May 2021.

While expressing the gratitude of the people of the state to federal government, Gov. Zulum urged the NEDC to do more in area of infrastructure, particularly roads, schools, and water supply distribution network.