NEDC Develops 10year Master Plan To Rebuild Northeast

The North-East Development Commission (NEDC) says it’s developing a comprehensive ten year master plan for the rebuilding of the North East region ravaged by insurgency. The Managing Director of the NEDC, Muhammed Alkali stated this at a consultative meeting with stakeholders in Damaturu on the proposed North- East Stabilisation and Development Master Plan (NESDMP). The North East Development Commission is a focal organization established in 2017 by President Muhammadu Buhari to facilitate and coordinate intervention programmes to address the devastating effect of insurgency facing the North East sub region.The ten year stabilization and development plan therefore is a step towards creating a people driven master plan to achieve the set goal. The Managing Director of the North East Development Commission represented by the Executive Director, Admin/Finance, Muhammad Jawa Gashua said the master plan would contain programmes aimed at accelerating socio-economic development of the North-East. The Managing Director of the NEDC said input from the stakeholders in Yobe and other five states of the zone would be harmonised into a draft working plan to be presented for validation. Also, the Chairman of the Steering Committee for the North East Stabilization and Development Master Plan Professor Umar Bobboi said, the 10 year plan would be in four phases which include Recovery, Renewal, Expansion and Sustainable development with ten pillars cutting across 16 sectors. “These sectors included Health, education, youth and women empowerment etc” Similarly, The Secretary to Yobe statecGovernment, Alhaji Baba Wali who represented Governor Mai Mala Buni at the event said, Yobe was the second most affected state by insurgency in the region and therefore charged the participants to actively participate in the discussions to highlight issues affecting the state that need to be reflected in Master plan. While speaking on behalf of the traditional institutions, the Emir of Fika and chairman Yobe state council of chiefs Alhaji Mohammed Abali Ibn-Idrissa suggested the construction of more roads in the rural communities to facilitate easy movement of goods and services with a view to reduce poverty and infrastructure deficit. The event was attended by lawmakers, security agencies, traditional and religious leaders, Civil Society, Youth and women groups among others.