‘I try to resist shedding tears while distributing relief materials to IDPs’ – Zulum

Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno says he resisted shedding tears while watching displaced persons queuing for distribution of relief materials.

Zulum stated this during the distribution of food and non-food items to 19,000 displaced households on Tuesday at Gajiram, headquarters of Nganzai Local Government Areas of the state.

The governor, who directly supervised the distribution of the items, was dismayed over the life threatening and critical conditions being experienced by the displaced people occasioned by insurgency.

He said: “When will our people stop queuing to receive relief items.”

“I charge you all to cooperate with the security operatives to enable them restore normalcy in our land so that our people can go back to their farmlands.

“We cannot continue to depend on food aid to survive, with the kind of resources we inject in providing relief items, you can only imagine the development projects we would have executed.”

Zulum reiterated commitment to end insurgency so as to fast track resettlement, recovery and peace restoration process.

He called on the elders, stakeholders and communities to cooperate with the security agencies by providing information on suspicious movements and activities in their communities.

It was reported that about 11,300 house wives received clothing materials and N5,000 each, while 7,800 men received one bag of rice and maize as well as three litres of cooking oil each.

The beneficiaries were displaced persons taking shelter in host communities and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the area.

Meanwhile, Zulum had visited Mega Primary School, Gajiram in Nganzai, and supervised the ongoing enrollment exercise to facilitate resumption of academic activities.

The governor assured provision of necessary support to ensure that schools were reopened in the area.

“Education is a game changer; you have to ensure that enrollment figures will match with classroom capacity. I will provide uniforms, reading materials and other facilities to ensure sustainability,” he said.

Zulum had on Feb. 2, 2019, visted Gajiram to assess the damage and ordered for rehabilitation of municipal building, palaces and other public structures vandalised by insurgents to facilitate restoration of civil authorities in the town.

It was also reported that the governor was accompanied on the visit by Rep. MT Monguno (APC-Monguno-Marte-Nganzai); Hajiya Yabawa Kolo, Chairperson, Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), and other officials.