FHA pledges leading role in rehabilitation of North East

MOVED by the poor sanitary and living conditions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in various camps of Maiduguri metropolis of Borno state, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) has pledged to mobilise both human and capital resources for the rehabilitation, resettlement and reconstruction of communities destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.

The authority’s Managing Director, Professor Mohammed Al-Amin who spoke in Maiduguri, Borno State when he led top Management staff of the Authority to mark this year’s World Habitat Day with the estimated two million IDPS in their various camps in the Borno State capital, assured that the agency will play a major role in the post insurgency in the rehabilitation of millions of IDPs.

The World Habitat Day is marked on the first Monday in October each year to draw attention to the state of the world’s cities and town and to the right of all to adequate shelter.

The FHA delegation visited the IDPS housed in Dalori camp, the National Youth Service Corps camp and at the Yerwa Government Girls Secondary School all in Maiduguri.

Professor Al-Amin said the FHA came to Borno State to empathize with the IDPS as well as use the occasion of the World Habitat Day to pass to them the message of hope that the Federal Government was committed to bringing the violence in the affected areas to an end and the reconstruction of the communities.

He expressed regret at the painful effect of dislocation suffered by the people who had lost their homes and their means of livelihood as well as the thousands of children whose education had been disrupted by the insurgency.

The FHA chief executive said President Muhammadu Buhari had a personal and official passion about the rehabilitation of the destroyed communities and the quick resettlement of the IDPS to their normal lives.

The FHA, he added, was working tirelessly towards translating that passion into quick action that would redeem the extreme conditions to which the IDPS had been exposed.

Professor Al-Amin who presented various relief materials to the IDPS said the Authority was introducing to them the Rammed Earth Technology by which a four bedroom house could be completed in four days.

Receiving the relief materials, the Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), Alhaji Mohammed Kanar said the FHA was the first organisation to visit the IDP camps in Maiduguri and praised the Managing Director for his concern for the plight of the displaced persons.

The FHA Managing Director and members of his delegation also visited Borno State Governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima and the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai El-Kanemi.

Professor Al-Amin told the Governor that the FHA decided to commemorate the World Habitat Day in Maiduguri instead of the usual tradition of doing so in the confines of five star hotels in order to reassure the people of the state that the government was committed to restoring normalcy in the affected areas.

He said it was to demonstrate that commitment that President Buhari, in one of his first steps  after his inauguration in May, this year directed that the military’s command and control centre in the prosecution of the anti Boko Haram campaign be moved to Maiduguri.

He praised the state government for its efforts towards ameliorating the plight of the IDPS.

Responding, the State Commissioner for Works and Transport, Alhaji Ahmed Lawan who stood in for Governor Shettima lamented that many communities in the state such as Bama, Monguno, Gwoza and Dikwa had been totally destroyed.

He said the state government had created a new Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement to handle the post insurgency redemption of the damage.

Governor Shettima said the state government had produced over one million blocks and was moulding 300,000 more per day towards the rebuilding of the affected communities.

At the palace of the Shehu of Borno, Professor Al-Amin praised the traditional ruler for his concern and his efforts towards alleviating the suffering of the displaced persons.

Responding, the Shehu said Borno, an ancient Islamic empire had never been subdued in spite of the Fulani invasion of the early 19th century and the Maitatsine crisis of the early 1980s.

He said the Boko Haram doctrine had no focus and was therefore unacceptable to the people.

The Shehu praised President Buhari for appointing indigenes of the state as the National Security Adviser, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Staff.
While in Maiduguri, the FHA also held an advocacy and train the trainer workshop on self help end user housing for selected community leaders.