BOKO HARAM: Stop treating us as a stepchild—Borno govt tells FG

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Sun News Publishing

Kashim Shettima

By: 

ISMAIL OMIPIDAN, Kaduna

Date: 

Wed, 06/06/2012 - 19:40

The Borno State Government has called on the Federal Government to stop giving it a “step-child” treatment, by trying to confine the Boko Haram insurgence to the state. Rather, it urged FG to “come up with an intervention package for the reconstruction and the rehabilitation of citizens affected by the security problems in the state.”

The Borno State government’s position is the outcome of a three-day retreat, organized for political office holders, to prepare them for the “challenges of governance and chart a new development agenda,” for the state.

The retreat, held May 21- May 25, with the theme “Borno Quantum Leap Project: Beyond the Present Challenges,” was attended by Governor Kashim Shettima, his deputy, SSG and all other political appointees. In the communiqué issued at the end of the retreat, state government emphasized the need for political appointees to key into the various programmes and plans, aimed at pulling the state back to the path of peace and development.

The communiqué, signed by Zanna Malam Gana and Dr. Asabe Vilita Bashir, as chairman and secretary of the organising committee respectively, noted: “As much as there are security challenges confronting the government and people of Borno State, there is the need to impress it upon the Federal Government and the larger Nigerian society that the problem of insecurity, especially the Boko Haram insurgency, is a national challenge and should never be seen to look like the preserve of a particular enclave.

“Conflict is caused by a constellation of factors, and experiences show that constructive engagement through mediation and dialogue remains the best ways of resolving conflicts. The Federal Government should collaborate with the Borno State Government in finding a lasting solution to the problems of conflicts and insecurity.

“The current problems arose from the collapse of social values, failure of leadership, neglect of the youth, leading to unemployment, abject poverty, illiteracy and frustrations. Hence the urgent need for a radical review of certain government policies that will tend to carry vulnerable groups like women and the youth along.

“In the face of very serious security challenges and unnecessary political distractions, this administration under Shettima has initiated good programmes as they affect agriculture, education, health, poverty alleviation, water supplies and security, and there is the need to adopt the governors laudable initiatives, a deliberate state policies.

“That agriculture having been the mainstay of the state economy should form the fulcrum of all development initiatives, to this end, the Government is implored to explore avenues of adopting modern agricultural technology, thereby the need to inaugurate a taskforce that will midwife the agricultural initiatives.

“The Federal Government to desist from giving Borno State the step-child treatment and come up with an intervention package for the reconstruction of the state and the rehabilitation of citizens affected by the security problems in the state.

“The Federal Government should look into the possibility of encouraging the full exploitation of the solid minerals potentials of Borno State, especially as it affects oil exploration around the Lake Chad basin, recharging the fast declining waters of the Lake Chad, speed up the completion of the 33kva power line, encourage industrialization, address ecological problems including desertification in the northern part of the state and erosion in the southern part.

“The retreat noted with concern the pervasive corruption amongst public office holders to the effect that it often generates public odium. It therefore called upon participants to strive and live above board in all their dealings, so that Borno will make the difference in the area of anti-corruption.