Nigeria Develops $6.7b Action Plan For Northeast
Nigeria has developed a $6.7 billion “Buhari Plan of Action’’ for the reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of Northeast that had been devastated by Boko Haram activities since 2009.
Nigeria’s Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande, unveiled the plan at a side event tagged ‘Strengthening the Humanitarian and Development Partnership in the Lake Chad Region’, at the UN headquarters.
The Nigerian envoy said that the comprehensive socio-economic Plan, known as ‘Buhari Plan’ aimed to advance the humanitarian and development nexus in the country.
Bande said Nigeria was spearheading the event based on the need to promote across board collaboration and cooperation among countries of the Lake Chad region, the donors and a whole range of humanitarian and development partners.
“At our national level, the $6.7 billion Buhari Plan of Action for the comprehensive Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement of the North Eastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad represents an ambitious humanitarian cum development initiative on the part of a national government.
“It is to demonstrate its total and unshakable commitment to the socio-economic development of the entire area.
“It is unmistakably true that beyond the current challenges lie numerous prospects for harnessing the capacity of the people and natural endowment of the area to facilitate integrated regional socio-economic development.
“Therefore, the occasion of this side event and its subsequent follow up actions would present opportunity for enhancing the objectives of several initiatives on the Lake Chad such as the All Lake Chad Governors Forum which held its inaugural meeting in Maiduguri, Nigeria in May.
“Also, the Berlin Conference on the Lake Chad has been slated for the first week of September 2018 and would build substantially on the outcomes of the February 2017 Oslo Donors Conference on the Lake Chad.
“I would like to take this opportunity to call on all stakeholders to redouble efforts and commitment towards making the coming Berlin Conference on the Lake Chad of Sept. 3 to 4, 2018 a watershed.
“This is in our collective resolve to further mobilise resources and demonstrate implicit commitment to plans that will ensure moving quickly beyond the immediate humanitarian need to concrete sustainable developmental projects capable of substantially elevating the lives of the majority of people in the region.”
