Gov Shettima reveals $9.6bn lost to insurgency in N’East

Governor of Borno State and Chairman of Northern Governors Forum, (NGF), Mr. Kashim Shettima, on Wednesday disclosed that properties worth over $9.6 billion have been lost in six North-East States of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, Taraba and Bauchi to activities of Boko Haram insurgents.

Shettima stated this in Abuja, when he led a delegation of Northern Leaders from the North-East zone on a thank you visit to the leadership of the 8th National Assembly, over the passage of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) Bill.

The Governor said statistics has shown that federal institutions and infrastructure in the country, have all proved that of the six geo-political zones, the North-East had suffered the most neglect.

According to him, the Presidential Projects Assessment Committee established by former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2010 and other reports like the one authored by the Chartered Institute of Project Management of Nigeria, all came to the conclusion that the North-East suffered the least attention from successive Federal administrations in Nigeria.

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He said: “In the northeast alone, destruction worth $9.6 billion dollars were inflicted on us from Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, Taraba and Bauchi. Just to give you simple statistics; in Borno we suffered destruction worth $6.7 billion.

“Out of it 956,453 units of houses making 30 per cent of the total sum of houses in Borno were destroyed. 5,335 classrooms in 501 primary school, 38 secondary schools and 2 tertiary institutions of learning were destroyed.

“201 primary healthcare centres and hospitals were destroyed. 650 municipal buildings including police stations, power plants and all the local government structures were destroyed and this is just a tip of the iceberg.”

In his remarks, Senate President, Bukola Saraki, noted that the Bill had already been transmitted to the President for assent.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, said with the taming of terrorism in the North-East, it has made other parts of the country safer.

Those on the entourage of the governor included the Governor of Adamawa State, Alhaji Muhammed Umaru Jibrilla and Royal Fathers from the North-East.

 

 

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