Insurgency: Buhari Calls For Dedication As He Inaugurates PCNI

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Thursday, October 27th, 2016

By Ganiyu Nasirudeen

ABUJA, NIGERIA (AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Members of the Presidential Committee on the North East Initiative (PCNI), have been urged to approach their task with ‘’dedication, commitment, accountability and transparency’’.

President Muhammadu Buhari made the appeal Wednesday, at the inauguration of the committee at the State House, Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Mr. President tasked the Committee to take a quick look at the conditions of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and take urgent remedial measures to alleviate them.

He also called on all stakeholders to give the PCNI its maximum support, to enable it to deliver on its mandate.

Speaking further, President Buhari stated that the Chairman of the committee, General T.Y. Danjuma (Rtd), GCON, is expected to lead his carefully chosen members from a wide spectrum of stakeholders to deliver as mandated.

“The Committee will be the apex coordinating body for all interventions in the region including those by the public, private, national and international development partners. The Committee is domiciled in the Presidency and is charged with responsibility for developing the strategy and implementation framework for rebuilding the North East region.

“The PCNI would not exist in perpetuity or isolation. Rather, it will exist for a period of 3 years, where after it is envisaged that a long-term regional development framework or entity may be established” the President informed.

PCNI, President Buhari confirmed would be funded through Federal, State and Local Government appropriation, as well as funds from the private sector and international development partners.

While lamenting an estimated 20,000 persons being killed; 2.4 million persons displaced and billions of naira worth of personal and public assets destroyed in the insurgency in the North east region since 2009, the President affirmed that ‘’many humanitarian intervention efforts, national and international, have worked over time to assist in coping with the task of bringing succour to the IDPs in and outside the region, with most of these efforts aimed at providing short-term emergency assistance and relief to the victims of the violence and displacement’’.

‘’However, there remains a need for better coordination of these efforts particularly the humanitarian resettlement and reconstruction of the region’’ Mr. President added.

Buhari commended the Military whose gallant efforts, he stressed have significantly degraded the insurgency, a development that encouraged many of the displaced persons, indicating willingness to return home and pick up their lives and move forward.