North East Development Commission (NEDC), under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, says it will construct 500 housing units in Yobe to complement state government’s efforts.
Mohammed Alkali, the Managing Director of the commission, disclosed this on Thursday in Damaturu.
He said the commission was established to address developmental challenges in the North-East region and to restore means of livelihood of the people following the over 12 years of insurgency.
“This situation led to massive influx of people into the urban areas with most of them taking shelter at any available public spaces, homes, abandoned and uncompleted buildings and some IDP camps across the region.”
He said the commission reflected on its mandate and decided to construct 500 houses in Yobe.
“To actualise this, the commission had earlier requested for, and had received approval from the Yobe State Government on allocation of plots of land for this mass housing project.”
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Alkali also explained that 250 houses would be sited in Damaturu, the state capital, and 50 houses each in Buni Yadi, Geidam, Potiskum, Gashua and Nguru.
He said the Commission had also to construct three Composite Mega Schools and upgrade of existing ones in each state of the North-East region.
Alkali said the commission also handed over food items to Yobe government as part of the strategy to address imminent food insecurity posed by insurgency in the state.
The items according to him include: 12,000 bags of 25kg of rice; 10,000 gallons of Vegetable Oil; 2,000 bags of Sugar; 3,000 cartons of Spaghetti and 2,000 cartons of macaroni among other interventions.
In his remarks Gov Mai Mala Buni thanked NEDC and described the gesture as another milestone to speed up post insurgency recovery following the activities of boko Haram insurgents.
“Such complementary interventions will certainly go a long way in impacting positively on the lives of the people across the state,” Buni said.
