The United Nations has promised to partner Borno State government and the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) towards the resettlement as well as addressing the challenges of about 2.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the three North-East states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency.
The Assistant Secretary General of the UN, Mr Robert Piper, who is also the Special Adviser to the UN Secretary General on Internal Displacement, revealed the partnership on Tuesday when he led a UN delegation on a courtesy visit to the MD/CEO of the NEDC, Mohammed Alkali, in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Mr. Piper said the essence of the visit was for the UN to learn how the state and the NEDC have handled the humanitarian crisis and see how it could support the state governor, Babagana Umara Zulum, who has shown commitment to ensure that the citizens displaced mostly in 2011 by insurgency were resettled and reintegrated to their communities.
He emphasised that solution to displacement requires investment and that it was not something that happens overnight, stressing that displacement requires investment in infrastructure, health facilities that are functioning, return of persons displaced from schools, with teachers showing up in classrooms.
“It is a long-term development enterprise not a short-term emergency work. To me NEDC is one of the instruments that holds the key. I believe you are a long-term investor after seeing your portfolio and plans, they are long-term structural business.
