Borno to close IDP camps in 2021 —Gov Zulum

Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, said on Saturday the state government planned to close down all its Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps before May 29 next year.

Zulum, who disclosed this in a keynote address at the formal launching of the 25-Year Development Framework for the State, urged the existing 192 Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Borno to key into the state government’s rehabilitation and resettlement programmes.

He added that the decision to relocate the displaced persons back to their ancestral homes was borne out the relative peace and the unflinching support of President Muhammadu Buhari to the government and the people of the state.

The governor also commended the security agencies and all humanitarian partners such as the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF), World Bank, and World Health Organisation (WHO) among others for restoration of peace and humanitarian services in the state.

He said: “The formal launching of 25 Years Development Framework and 10 Years of Strategic Transformation Plan for Borno was due to over one decade of atrocities by insurgents.

“The five drivers of the strategic pillars were anchored on human capital development, leadership in agriculture, healthy citizenry, sustainable environment and regional trade hub, with four enabling strategic pillars which are: reconstruct, rehabilitate and resettle purposeful infrastructure, accountable governance, peace and security.

“Insha Allah, we are going to do everything possible within the scarce resources at our disposal to ensure smooth implementation of these policies and programmes to reposition Borno to a greater height.

“South Korea was once declared the second largest forest in the world due to its civil war, but because of good vision and support from all stakeholders, South Korea came up victorious and now one of the leading producers of electronics in the whole world.

“We are therefore soliciting support from all and sundry to key into our vision and mission to make Borno one of the best investment-friendly states to Nigerians and the International community.

“As a government, we cannot do this alone without the cooperation of our humanitarian partners who have been there for us since the beginning of the conflict, and we, therefore, enjoin all NGOs living in the state to join hand with us rebuilt the state.”