Northern State Governors Donate N360m To Borno State Government

Governors of eighteen Northern States
today donated N360 million to support
the Borno State government in addressing
problems associated with humanitarian
needs and rebuilding of communities and
livelihoods following the prolonged Boko
Haram attacks in the state.



Governors Aminu Bello Masari of
Katsina, Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna, Aminu
Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto and Bindo
Umaru Jibrilla of Adamawa States
conveyed the donations in cheques issued
by Government of the Northern States
with each donating twenty million.



The four Governors flew to Maiduguri in the
morning and spent some hours before
departing.




While in Maiduguri, the
Governors visited one of the internally
displaced persons camps and paid a
courtesy call on Governor Kashim
Shettima.



"At our last meeting of the Northern
Governors, it was resolved that a
committee was set up to visit Borno. We
were nominated as memo the committee.



We are here to show sympathy to the
good people of Borno and in solidarity
with our brother, Governor Kashim
Shettima.



We are solidly behind him and
we stand by him at this trying time. We
have also resolved to be more united than
ever before.




What affects any of us, affects
all.



Each of the 18 northern States is
donating N20m totaling N360m. Some
have already issued cheques while others
are sending theirs soon. We will stand in
solidarity with each other and we will do
everything humanly possible to ensure
that this kind of crisis that affected the
northeast does not affect any other part
of the north and by extension the
country" Masari said.



Host Governor Shettima said part of what
has kept him going is the empathy of his
colleagues from different States in Nigeria.



"As your brother and colleague in this
State, one of the things that has kept me
strong despite the calamity of Boko
Haram, is the genuine empathy and
encouragement I constantly receive from
all of you.




Most Governors have solidly
identified with us even when Borno
suffered its most severe neglect between
2011 and 2014.




It was at this period that
Boko Haram took over most of our local
government areas after very audacious
and bloody attacks. They killed thousands,
destroyed communities, abducted and
raped our sisters and daughters. They
destroyed nearly one million residential
houses; destroyed over five thousand
classrooms and other school buildings.



They destroyed over 200 healthcare
centres.




They bombed water and
electricity installations. They set large scale
farms ablaze, blocked major economic
highways like the Ngala road connecting
Nigeria with five countries. Wealthy
traders and international transporters lost
their trailers and became poor overnight.



The insurgents kept on launching suicide
attacks on the Maiduguri Monday Market
in order to cut off economic activities in
the State.



They mounted pressure on the
State so much that our local economy was
only charged anytime salaries were paid
to workers at the State level and at the
University of Maiduguri which is the
second largest employer in Borno. Traders
were terribly affected to the extent that
we had to resort to giving some sort of
bailout to some of them.



Shocking as this may sound, throughout
that darkest period of large scale killings
and destructions, the total support we got
from the Federal Government was a paltry
two hundred million naira. This came at
time the State Government was spending
six hundred million naira monthly to feed
about two million internally displaced
persons.



At that time, the international
community didn't quite appreciate the
humanitarian situation in the northeast.



Most of the UN agencies and international
partners started making major food
interventions in 2016. It was actually the
unfortunate Chibok abduction of April
2014 that began to attract focus on
Borno.



But like I always say, going
through difficult times is not the worst
thing in life.



The worst is to be hopeless in
the face of difficulty" Shettima said.