Borno Governor, Professor Babagana Umara Zulum, on Wednesday commissioned 580 units of two bedroom houses which were immediately allocated for resettlement of families displaced by Boko Haram who had, for years, been living at internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp.
Zulum unveiled the houses in Auno town of Konduga Local Government Area at a brief ceremony that was attended by government officials, the district head of Auno and displaced families which were given the houses under the state government’s drive towards safe and dignified resettlement of IDPs across the state.
The 580 houses were built by Borno’s Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR) on Zulum’s approval, while a resettlement committee co-chaired by commissioner for RRR, Engr Mustapha Gubio, and the Special Adviser on Sustainable Development, Partnerships and Humanitarian Support, Dr. Mairo Mandara, supervised allocation of houses and resettlement.
Governor Zulum symbolically presented letters of allocation to families and directed the resettlement committee to work towards moving more displaced families from IDP camps to dignified homes.
Zulum lamented that IDP camps have been faced with so many problems of prostitution, drug abuse and exploitation of humanitarian interventions by citizens who relocate to camps in the day time mainly to get food rations meant for those with more severe needs after which they return to their homes at night, leaving the real IDPs with less food allocations.
The Governor said it was in that regard that he directed the closure of government IDP camps at the Mohammed Goni College of Islamic Legal Studies (MOGOLIS) and the NYSC permanent orientation camps, while displaced persons were resettled. He noted that the measure aims to ensuring optimum use of MOGOLIS for academic activities.
In his welcome remark, Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR), Engr Mustapha Gubio, explained that a total of 4,967 families, called households, were recently resettled with houses allocated to them in Damasak, Auno, Bama, Konduga town, Jere, Maiduguri and Marte.
Gubio also said that during house allocations, primary school teachers, nurses and security personnel were accorded consideration given their roles in communities.
The commissioner also announced more resettlement housing projects were ongoing and nearing completion amongst Kaleri, Warabe, Chibok, Ngarnam, Damboa, Marte, Dalori and more locations.