North East Community Happy with N31trn Master Plan to Develop Region, Says Group

Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi

The chairman of North East Elders and Youth Peoples Forum has commended the Managing Director/Chief Executive of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC), Alhaji Mohammed Goni Alkali, for creating a validated 10-year North East Stabilisation and Development Master Plan (NESDMP) aimed at facilitating a transformative growth of the region and lifting citizens in the region out of poverty.

The Chairman of the association, Alhaji Salihu Magaji, and his Secretary, Lawal Abdullahi, stated this yesterday in Bauchi while briefing journalists as part of their reaction on the road to development of the region Master Plan by NEDC.

He said the implementation of the North-East Development Plan would gulp the sum of $80 billion, which is equivalent to N31.05 trillion, as announced by the commission.

Magaji said: “The announcement of this huge amount of money shows the patriotism, doggedness, commitment and accountability of the Managing Director of the commission, Mohammed Goni Alkali, which clearly shows his mission and vision to remove the region from its predicament and present woes.”

He said: “The North East region is the most backward and neglected region in the country despite its historic position and status in the history of Nigeria. Today, the region has suffered a lot of setbacks as a result of insurgencies and climate change effects.”

Magaji said the full implementation of the master plan would no doubt bring needed growth and development to the region in line with objective of NEDC which was established to rebuild the North-east region following the unfortunate Boko Haram insurgency.

He stated that in less than four years since its establishment, the Alkali-led commission made great strides towards achieving its mandate of managing funds for the recovery, stabilisation, and paving a path toward long-term social-economic development of the North-east region.

Magaji said the activities carried out by

the commission is a fulfillment of the campaign promise made by President Muhammadu Buhari to the people of the North-east geo-political zone during his electioneering.

The chairman said with their performance, the North-east communities felt that NEDC turned out to be “one of the important projects of Buhari administration that touched their lives positively and gladden the hearts of the communities because of the right choice of leadership under Alkali, “whose exemplary, transparent and prudent leadership led to the successes recorded by the NEDC.”

On his part, the Secretary of the Forum Lawal Abdullahi, said: “It’s no doubt that Alkali succeeded in implementing the humanitarian development peace building because of the many ground viable, demand-driven, and impactful projects that are changing the landscape of the region, and the projects are distributed judiciously according to the needs of each state in the zone.”