PCNI begins active infrastructure development in north-east – Chairman
NAN-H-73
Transition
By Sumaila Ogbaje
Abuja, Jan. 25, 2018 (NAN) Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, Chairman, Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative (PCNI), said on Thursday that the committee has begun active infrastructure development in the north-east through early recovery programme.
Danjuma, who was represented by the Vice Chairman, Alhaji Tijjani Tumsah, disclosed this at the PCNI Coordination Forum and Tracking Indicators Validation Workshop in Abuja.
He said that the committee has transited from humanitarian services, saying that the target of the committee in 2018 was to commence the reconstruction of the affected areas.
The chairman noted that the task of providing infrastructure in the region was overwhelming.
Danjuma, however, called on all the stakeholders in the north-east programme to continue to work together to address the challenges of reconstruction of the insurgency ravaged north-east.
He reiterated the importance of monitoring and evaluation as central to the success and challenges of the activities of PCNI and other development partners in the region.
According to him, this is the reason PCNI is consistently bringing together diverse stakeholders to address these dynamic challenges.
“PCNI has always had a plan that is guided by the Buhari’s plan and it is from that the movement from absolute humanitarian services to early recovery emanated.
“The PCNI target and the reason for this meeting is to develop a framework for monitoring and evaluating its activities to go forward in 2018.
“The context of which is to be measured in the things that we need to do in the north-east going forward.
“So we are transiting from humanitarian to early recovery as our gallant armed forces are now recovering more areas and making them more peaceful.
“We are able to commence with agriculture as our early recovery plan,’’ he said.
Mr Robert Odhiambo, Sector Coordinator, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), said the need for intervention in the north-east was still high because of the high number of displacement in the region.
Odhiambo said that about one million people had so far returned to their locations, adding that about 900,000 people were still in both official and unofficial camps.
On the access to the IDPs, he said the successes recorded by the military had created access to the IDPs in the region, adding that only few places were not accessible yet.
“With regard to the work that is going on, the need is still high because the number of displacement is very high.
“People have relocated to different locations far from their homes and this has been going on for a while but the situation seems to be normalizing now.
“We have about one million people who have returned to their locations in the last few months, yet there are over 900,000 in both official and unofficial camps.
“There is a wide range of access to the IDPs because they are being guided by the UN security agencies, which are able to guide us through.
“We do recognize the heavy presence of the military right now, and they have been able to clear a quite number of places previously occupied by the insurgents,’’ he said. (NAN)
OYS/AFA
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Edited by Felix Ajide