The managing director and chief executive officer of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Mohammed Alkali has said that insecurity is one of the major challenges hindering the agency’s activities in the North East Zone.
At a meeting with the representatives of the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at the NEDC headquarters in Abuja, Alkali said the commission had been having challenges accessing some communities in the North East due to the continued activities of terrorists, which has hindered its operations.
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Alkali also identified the paucity of funds, high number of out-of-school children, inflation among others as the challenges confronting the commission.
He said, “There is a need for capacity building of the key personnel in NEDC and the states and local governments. We equally have some pockets of insecurity in the region, implying that some areas may still not be accessible. The reintegration of surrendering insurgents could be an issue.
“While tackling the menace of out-of-school children is also a serious challenge as well as high inflation and floating of the naira have affected the implementation of our masterplan.”
Alkali assured that the commission would not fail in its mandate to see massive “resettlement, rehabilitation, integration and reconstruction of roads, and business premises of victims of insurgency and terrorism as well as tackling the menace of poverty, and illiteracy amongst others.”
In an overview of NEDC’s mandate and master plan, Alkali said the masterplan contains over 500 programmes and schemes which would promote and facilitate the physical and socioeconomic development of the zone and would be implemented in 10 years.
Earlier, the chairman of FAAC post-mortem subcommittee, Kabir Muhammad Mashi, said they were at NEDC to see how they could support and collaborate with the commission to ensure sustainable development in the region.
Mashi said, “We are here to work as partners in progress, we are here to see how we can support the massive work you are doing, we are here to monitor the progress.”