The Borno State Government has enunciated immediate, short and long-term plans to stabilize and develop the state.
Governor Babagana Zulum who disclosed on Tuesday, equally explained how the state is responding to the mass surrender of over 35,000 repentant Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorist groups operating in the North-East.
The governor was addressing multinational countries along the Lake Chad Basins and development partners from the United Kingdom and other countries, during an ongoing conference being hosted by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
This was made known on Tuesday in a statement signed by the spokesperson for the governor, Isa Gusau.
Gusau said the conference, which is tagged “Lake Chad Basin: Key Steps Towards Comprehensive Regional Solutions with focus on how to effectively manage mass surrenders by Boko Haram and ISWAP fighters through Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration” began on Monday and is taking place at Wilton Park, located at Winston House in Sussex, United Kingdom.
The conference is being facilitated by the Lake Chad Basin Regional Strategy for Stabilisation Recovery and Resilience which provides framework for conflict interventions by development partners.
The statement said, Zulum, on the second day, delivered a keynote address titled “Insurgency, Recovery, and Rebuilding Borno State: My Aspirations for Borno State and Lake Chad Region.”
“The governor discussed recent efforts by the Nigerian Government with President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of a Presidential Committee on Repatriation, Return and Resettlement of Displaced Persons in the North-East, which has been tasked with resettling IDPs, supporting successful repatriation of over 190,000 Nigerian refugees, and managing mass surrender of insurgents,” the statement read.
Zulum gave a detailed overview which highlighted impacts of the insurgency in Borno State in terms of infrastructural destructions, displacements, humanitarian crisis and resettlement efforts
