From Dan Garba, Yola
Former Head of States and international peace Ambassador, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, has advocated for a strong and sustained political will by the Nigerian military forces as well as support by the local communities in restoring the Lake Chad region ravaged by Boko Haram insurgents.
This, he said, is good for peace in the Lake Chad Region, which cut across Yobe, Adamawa, Borno, part of Niger Republic, Cameroun and Chad.
He made the advocacy in Yola, Adamawa State during an official visit to the state in a keynote address he delivered at a regional Conference on “Peace-building and reconstruction in the Chad Basin” organised by the Centre for Peace and Security Studies of Modibbo Adama University of Technology (MAUTECH), Yola in collaboration with the Army Headquarters, Abuja.
Listing casualties and damaged facilities in the North -East caused by Boko Haram, the former Head of State said Internally Displaced persons (IDPs), were put at 2.4 million, number of abducted and kidnapped persons were over 2,000 and houses destroyed were estimated at about 18 million.
The international peace Ambassador said the number of bridges destroyed were 350, schools, over 22,000, government institutions destroyed, over 1,000, worship centres, 1,000 and economic loses was amounted to about N1.8 trillion.
General Abdulsam, therefore called for global efforts in rehabilitating the Lake Chad Basin and subscribed to the idea of a global summit of the Lake Chad as a catalyst towards mobilizing interest and resources to what he described as “an asset to Africa.”
He also commended the gallantry of the Nigeria Army under Lt.-Gen. TY Buratai in dislodging the insurgents. The Chief of Army staff, Buratai, who commended the sub-region’s multinational military force from Cameroun, Niger and Chad as well as the European Union and state governors affected by the devastation of Boko –Haram, said the Nigeria military engineers would be involved in rebuilding the infrastructure in the region.
Representative of the Head of Mission and Executive Secretary Lake Chad Basin Commission, Hajiya Zara Binta, said the commission has developed an ethno-centric development plan to restore the region and called for support of the EU and countries affected for the execution of the project.
Vice chancellor, MAUTECH, Prof. Kyari Mohammed said the conference was to bring stakeholders together to provide workable modalities in restoring the region.
There were goodwill messages from the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, Eric Mayolac and Governor Jibrilla Umaru Bindow of Adamawa state in which both commended the Nigeria Military and assured of their support in restoring the region.
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