Boko Haram: Deadlier terrorist group may emerge –Bauchi gov

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Boko Haram: Deadlier terrorist group may emerge –Bauchi gov

The Sun, 04 Feb 2016

URL: http://sunnewsonline.com/new/boko-haram-deadlier-terrorist-group-may-emerge-bauchi-gov/
From Paul Orude, Bauchi

BAUCHI State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, has warned that efforts to re­build the areas devastated by activities of insurgents in the North-East will fail unless the underlying problems of poverty and ignorance were adequately addressed.

Abubakar gave the warning yesterday when he received a 12-member As­sessment Team of the Eu­ropean Union (EU), United Nations (UN) and World Bank (WB) on insurgency devastated areas in the North-East to Bauchi.

Alhaji Wakil Adamu from the office of the vice president, led the team on a courtesy call to him at Gov­ernment House, Bauchi in company with officials of National Emergency Man­agement Agency (NEMA), the State Emergency Man­agement Agency and UNI­CEF, among others.

The governor said the mission of the team was a welcome and timely one in view of the devastation Boko Haram has unleashed on Nigerians particularly those residing in the North- East.

“Rebuilding infrastruc­ture is important in re­building the areas but ad­dressing the underlying factor of the insurgency is much more important be­cause the North-East is se­riously affected by poverty and ignorance.

“If poverty and igno­rance are not properly ad­dressed, they could pro­vide grounds for the rise of another crazy group if Boko Haram is taken care of. We are running a risk if poverty is not addressed.”

He explained that Bau­chi State has played host to an influx of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) since 2004 following ethno-religious crises in Kaduna, Plateau and some parts of Bauchi long be­fore the Boko Haram crisis broke in1999.

Governor Abubakar ex­plained that the state has been hospitable to millions of displaced persons that have escaped crisis in oth­er parts of the region, say­ing several communities have sprang up as a result.

He said although most of them have resettled in Bauchi, they are psycho­logically displaced and urged the team to take their plight into consider­ation.

Earlier in his remark, Adamu disclosed that the mission was a combina­tion of the Federal Gov­ernment and development partners who have seen reason to assess and sup­port the commitment and initiatives of both the fed­eral and the affected states governments’ initiatives to rebuild areas devastated by Boko Haram.

On why they were in Bauchi, Adamu said: “The focus is to do an on the spot assessment, interact with the people, inspect destroyed places, find out what happened, what the government of the affected state is doing and how to compliment government’s efforts.

He said the team is di­vided into three- infra­structure and social invest­ment, social cohesion and economy respectively.