The Presidential Committee on the North-east Initiative (PCNI) has revealed that it has spent more than one billion naira (N1bn) on the reconstructing and intervention in North-eastern Nigeria in the first quarter of 2017.
This was disclosed by the committee’s director of programmes, Mohammed Danjuma, during the launching of the PCNI’s dashboard to bring all stakeholders and partners together to coordinate interventions in the region, in Abuja, yesterday.
“There are multiple actors in the region – international development partners, international non-governmental organisations, state governments, local non-governmental organisations, individuals, faith-based organisations – and bringing everyone aboard would help us identify gaps.
“So far, the Federal Government has expended over N1bn on the region and by way of assessment, we need N7bn to rebuild the region. We are not rying to hijack efforts already in play; we are just trying to know who is doing what, where and how, while putting the welfare and protection of the IDPs uppermost on the agenda of this government, via the Buhari Economic Plan,” Danjuma said.
In response to the degree of progress of reconstruction in the region to bring about the return of the IDPs back to their various states, Danjuma insisted that the priority remained security of the area, the feeding of the IDPs and creating a great environment for their return.
“So far, over 21,000 projects have been planned for the North-east by the Buahri administration and, as soon as the budget is passed, we’ll be seeing projects championed by a number of MDAs in the region.”
The dashboard would see real-time information on the activities of all the bodies helping out in the region, whether local or international, and help the PCNI keep tabs on them, in order to prevent clash of roles, disorder, loss of focus and relegation of priorities amongst them.