Zulum resettles over 2,500 IDPs into Borno community
By Tada Juthan
Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno State has resettled over 2,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) into the 500 completed houses in the Konduga liberated community.
Members of the 424 households were displaced from 10 villages of Sambisa Forest and had been living in Konduga IDP camp for over a decade.
Allocating the houses to IDP returnees yesterday (Monday), the governor said that today’s event marks the beginning of closing the over a decade-old IDP camp by the state government.
He also lamented the Boko Haram sack of people from their communities, depriving them of livelihoods and farming activities in the local government area.
Additionally, he said that the inaugurated 500 Housing Estate is furnished with public facilities, including schools, a healthcare centre, water supply, and a police outpost.
Besides allocating the new houses, each household collected food and non-food items, including blankets, mats, and mattresses.
In addition to the houses, each family also received food items, blankets, buckets, and wrappers for the returning IDP women.
Similarly, each head of the 424- households received N50,000, while the housewives collected N20,000 each.
“These are part of the IDP resettlement package to support you picking up the pieces of your lives in the Konduga community,” he said.
Zulum also reiterated the commitments of his administration to resettle all those displaced by insurgency who are still living in camps.
Continuing, he noted that the closure of camps has become inevitable, as some of the IDP camps have become hideouts of criminals, including the perpetrating of social vices and drug peddling.
“Criminals used to sleep in some camps, including Boko Haram members. This is unacceptable,” he said.
Consequently, the governor is also embarking on the construction of 500 houses in Dalwa community along the Maiduguri-Damboa Road.
He assured that the housing project will be completed in six months to resettle the displaced persons from the insurgency-affected communities of Damboa and Konduga.
On the Aulari housing estate, the governor said: “The state government has placed an order of N100 million blocks of concrete for the construction of 500 houses in the Aulari community.”
He stated that the community was severally attacked by Boko Haram insurgents between 2014 and 2019.
Zulum, therefore, warned the resettled displaced persons against selling their allocated houses.
Mindful of the dangers of climate change, particularly the recent floods that claimed many lives and property, he urged them to plant trees within and around the housing estate.
The names of the residents of the estate, he added, will be written in gold for carbon emission reduction with the fight against desert encroachment and other environmental degradation.
