Governor Zulum says about $6.9 billion lost to Boko Haram insurgency in North-East 

04 Feb Governor Zulum says about $6.9 billion lost to Boko Haram insurgency in North-East 

Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum says property worth over $6.9 billion has been lost in the last 13 years to the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east region of Nigeria.

Zulum spoke in Abuja on Thursday when he appeared at the weekly briefing of the Presidential Communications Team.

He said “The insurgency has triggered acute humanitarian and post-displacement crises with devastating social and economic impact on the population, further deepening fragility and poverty in the North-East region,” Mr Zulum said.

“The outcome of the recovery peace building assessment by the World Bank, EU and UN revealed that a total sum of about $6.9 billion was lost as a result of the insurgency in the entire Northeastern states. Out of this, Borno State accounts for over two-thirds.

“The insurgents have destroyed about 5000 classrooms in Borno State and about 800 municipal buildings, including local government secretariats, prisons, and traditional rulers’ buildings among others. Furthermore, they destroyed about 713 energy distribution lines and 1600 water sources.

“In addition to that, we harvested about 49, 311 widows and about 49, 917 orphans. These are official figures,” the governor said.

However, Mr Zulum said peace is gradually returning to Borno as a result of the commitment and support of the federal government.

“One major reason why we have been succeeding in the North-East, particularly Borno State, is because there was never a time I requested to see the President and was denied access. This is something very important. Whenever I had serious security issues in Borno State, as soon as I landed in Abuja, within the next 10-15 minutes on arrival, I would be granted access to the President and this has contributed a lot in ensuring the gradual return of peace and stability to Borno State,” he said.

The governor said a lot of resources have been ploughed into the processes of restoring peace in the state.

“A significant amount of resources has been injected into the implementation of the security strategies – financial, material, logistics and motivational,” he said.

Zulum said his government has done much in relocating displaced persons, as a result of which farming activities are picking up.

He thanked the federal government and the security agencies for their roles in the peace process, adding that citizens in the state are also contributing to the restoration of peace by volunteering intelligence on the insurgency.

“Honestly speaking, the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the police, the DSS (SSS) and others are giving the desired collaboration to the government of Borno State.

“The first effort we made towards securing Borno State was through intelligence sharing, which is very important. We consider the communities’ participation as very important and the community-driven approach to re-establishing peace in Borno State has yielded positive results. We have our local intelligence, who normally provide a feedback mechanism to the government and the military with a view to addressing the lingering insecurity in Borno State,” he said.

On the closure of some displaced persons’ camps in the state, Zulum said some cases of vices and criminal activities led to that decision.

The governor said 18 displaced communities have since been resettled, and thanked the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Nigeria Customs Service, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the North-East Development Commission for their services in the state.