Rebuilding Houses Destroyed By Boko Haram will Require N20bn, Says Geidam

Tobi Soniyi in Abuja

Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Geidam, has said about N10 billion to N20billion will be required to reconstruct the destroyed homes of Boko Haram victims in the North-east before they could return home.

The governor spoke with the State House Correspondents after briefing President Muhammadu Buhari on development in the state.

However, the governor said he and the people of Yobe State were elated by the fact that the state has been finally liberated from Boko Haram.

According to him, two local government areas previously occupied by the insurgents had since been liberated.

Geidam said many of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were hitherto quartered in different camps had returned home.

He said: “In Yobe State, we experienced insurgency for about two or three years. There were times when the Boko Haram terrorists occupied two of our local government areas of Gulani and Gujiba before they were liberated. As I am talking to you now, we have more than 3,000 IDPs in our camp.
“All of them except these 3,000 have returned to their homes. That is why I am here to advise Mr. President on how best these people should be resettled.

“Because they need a kind of rehabilitation of their destroyed homes by Boko Haram, some need outright reconstruction of their homes especially those which were completely destroyed by the Boko Haram terrorists. So, I came here to give him a first hand information of things on ground there.

“I briefed him on how much we were able to do to resettle those who have gone back home and then what the federal government wants the remaining ones to do. So that they will go back and settle fully in their homes and resume their normal business activities.

“By our estimates, actually if the federal government spends anything from N10 billion to N20billion, the whole area which was destroyed by Boko Haram will be reconstructed and people will go back to their homes and resume their normal lives.

“We have got relative peace. People are going about their normal lives and businesses. No threat to security of lives and property in any part of Yobe. We do not have any threats of Boko Haram anywhere in Yobe as I speak with you right now.”

Geidam also told journalists that his requests to the president received positive responses.
“His responses were very positive. He appreciated my coming and he promised that he would look into all those issues I raised,” he said.