From Olukayode Idowu, Maiduguri
SUNRISE NEWS, Borno, Aug 12, 2020 The North East Development Commission (NEDC) on Tuesday said the projects being executed in the Northeast is targeted at immediately returning peace to the troubled sub-region.
The Managing Director/CEO of the NEDC, Mohammed Alkali who hosted in Maiduguri the Chairmen of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the six Northeast states, said the Commission cannot wait for the crisis to be over before embarking on projects since peace can only be built when the people feel cared for.
Alkali, who noted that two projects are slated to be built in each of the 112 local government areas of the six states of the northeast, said that the projects are important not only to development of the sub-region but to building peace.
Alkali to the delegation of the CSOs, led by the Borno State Chairman, Ambassador Ahmed Shehu that: “We have 112 local government areas. We want to do two projects per local government and that gives us 224 projects, especially in education, health and water resources. I know we cannot achieve 100 percent, but if we achieve 77 percent, it is good.
“I understand that there are 1,058 wards in the six states of northeast. So, every year, we’re going to pick five persons in each of the wards to go to the University. Five multiplied by 1,000 is equal to 5,000.
“Human capital is development. We can develop people with ICT. That is why we are trying to establish ICT centres across the Northeast and to train and empower our youths so that they can pick up their lives from there.
“We will then go to those who cannot go for academic line like those who want to do vocational training. We will take another 5,000 people. About 15,000 will be benefiting from our scholarship every year.
“As we go on we will look at those who want to do their Masters or Ph.D, otherwise this problem can’t be solved because their parents cannot afford the school fees.
“Someone has to take up the challenge for a few years. We are going to develop schools and teachers because if you build schools without teachers forget about it. What we are going to do is to embark on massive teachers training. For me development is not just to build structures. It is something social that can impact people’s lives.”
He noted that they need the cooperation of every stakeholders to bring back development to the Northeast.
Earlier speaking, Ambassador Shehu had asked that all stakeholders should be carried along in project formulation and execution.