Resettlement of IDPs, agric tasks before N/E governors

Returning or newly elected governors in the insurgency-ridden North-East Nigeria are faced with the responsibility of resettling displaced persons and commercialising agriculture in the region through mechanisation, captains of industry have said.

The results of Saturday’s gubernatorial elections in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, three states that have been mostly affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, show that these responsibilities will be placed on the shoulders of Jibrilla Bindow (Adamawa, newly elected), Kashim Shettima (Borno, returning) and Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe, re-elected) for the next four years.

Captains of industry say besides resettlement and mechanisation, there must be a closer focus on education to ensure that youths are well-equipped for the future and prevented from being ready tools in the hands of religious or political extremists.

“Many people have lost their properties and homes, so they need to be re-settled,” Baba Shehu Bukar, director-general, Borno Chamber of Commerce and Industry told BusinessDay yesterday.

“The new governor needs to adopt a pragmatic approach to education and put more efforts in agriculture. Fertiliser has to be for all and now that things are improving and farmers are gradually returning to their bases, we expect the governor to mechanise agriculture,” he said.

Adamawa is one of the largest states in Nigeria and occupies about 36,917 square kilometers. Citizens of the state are mainly fishers and farmers of  cash crops such as cotton and groundnuts.

The state is also known for trading and export of food crops such as groundnuts, maize, yam,cassava, guinea corn, millet and rice.

But the situation changed when the Boko Haram insurgency became overwhelming.

Abdurahaman Modibbo Girei, president, Adamawa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told BusinessDay that he hopes the business background of the newly elected governor will be sufficient to drive investment into the region and resettle displaced persons.

“If the people are not settled; if they do not pay attention because they do not have homes, no leader can hope to achieve anything,” Girei said, in a telephone interview.

“In fact, without re-settling people, I foresee more problems. I wish he would team up with the new president after the swearing-in ceremony, to move the state forward,” he said.

The Boko Haram insurgency has rendered the economy of the North-East region comatose. Masts belonging to telecoms firms such as MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat have been destroyed by the insurgents in several local government areas in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

“Fifty-three of our telecoms sites were directly affected by the bomb attacks in the northe-astern part of Nigeria. But 193 sites were impacted in all, as huge outages were sustained,” said Osondu Nwokoro, director, regulatory affairs, Airtel Nigeria, at a media briefing in Lagos last year.

Communication is yet to be restored, while banks that fled the troubled regions are yet to return, according to Girei.

But the situation is improving, as military forces from  Benin Republic, Cameroon, Chad and Niger assist Nigeria in defeating the insurgents, destroying their camps and re-capturing many towns.

Shettima Bukar Jallaba, director-general, Yobe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, hopes there will be resuscitation of  export of fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products to Niger Republic, Cameroun and other parts of the continent  as insurgency wanes.

Odinaka Anudu