Residents receive 55,000 bags, cartons of food as Zulum spends 3 days in Gwoza … Commissions projects, orders rebuilding of 750 houses in Pulka, Ngoshe
Borno State Governor Professor Babagana Umara Zulum has spent three days carrying out humanitarian activists in Gwoza Local Government Area, which is a former caliphate of boko haram in the southern part of the state.
The Governor commissioned projects and supervised the distribution of 55,000 bags and cartons of food items to over 16,000 displaced and vulnerable persons in the local government area.
Gwoza, located between parts of the Sambisa Forest and Mandara Mountains, fell to Boko Haram in 2014 and served as headquarters of the insurgents with their vicious spiritual leader, Abubakar Shekau once operating from the town, before it was liberated by the military.
Zulum was from Sunday to Tuesday in Gwoza town, Pulka and Ngoshe towns, all populated by displaced and vulnerable residents in Gwoza LGA.
The food distributed by the Governor comprised included 10,000 bags of 25kg rice and 10,000 gallons of vegetable oil provided by the Borno State Government.
Also distributed were 15,000 bags of processed maize, 15,000 bags of beans, and 5,000 gallons of oil provided by the Northeast Development Commission, whose managing director, Mohammed Goni Alkali was part of the Governor’s trip to Gwoza. Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume was also in the trip and so was state chairman of the APC Ali Bukar Dalori amongst many others.
In addition to food, Governor Zulum gave out 20,000 pieces of wrappers and the sum N20 million to thousands of vulnerable persons as part of humanitarian support for restoration of livelihoods in Gwoza.
Prior to the distribution of food and non food items, Zulum on Monday commissioned a primary healthcare centre in Pulka, a populated town in Gwoza local government area and new government lodge in Gwoza town, headquarters of the LGA.
Zulum was also in Pulka, a town populated by displaced and vulnerable persons. He commissioned a primary healthcare centre in Pulka and directed Borno State Rural Water Supply Agency to drill 10 deep aquifer boreholes to address the perennial water problem facing the town.
At Ngoshe, also in Gwoza local government, Zulum assessed the progress of ongoing reconstruction of 250 housing units.
The Governor directed the Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement to rebuild additional 750 homes for resettlement of diplaced persons currently living in Pulka.
Zulum said the projects, when completed, should encourage the resettlement of 1,000 families at Ngoshe.
The Governor was also at Government Day Secondary School in Gwoza town, where he directed the Ministry of Education to rehabilitate the school to enable the return of students.
Zulum had before departing Maiduguri on Sunday, ordered the deployment of dozens of trailers loaded with varieties of food and non-food items to Gwoza. The Governor in this December alone, travelled to Kala-Balge, Bama, Konduga and Askira-Uba Local Government Areas and was in all the councils directly involved in the distribution of food items to more than 30,000 displaced and vulnerable citizens.
He had also assessed schools and hospitals where he issued directives and deadlines for completion of ongoing projects and the commencement of new ones. Before December, the governor was in Monguno, Damasak, Gajiram, Gubio, Dikwa and Ngala and other areas in the northern and central parts of Borno State to supervise food distribution, identify community needs, fast track ongoing projects and issue directives for new ones. Majority of the towns visited by the governor for humanitarian activities had hitherto been occupied by Boko Haram insurgents before they were liberated by the military.
Though liberated, farming, social and economic activities still remained unstable in the areas as there is ongoing military operations to forestal occasional threats from the insurgents
