ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Federal government has promised to implement the recommendations of the Inter-ministerial Committee, mandated to advise it on the planned handing over areas in the North East liberated by the military from Book Haram terrorists.
The Minister of Defence, Brig-Gen. Mansur Muhammad Dan-Ali (rtd) gave this assurance on Thursday while receiving the reports submitted by the committee after its six-week sojourn to the affected States of the North-east, including Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa.
Dan-Ali added that the feedback received from the people and the governments of the affected states was commendable.
He said:”I followed with keen interest the activities of your committee in the field. From the reports I was receiving I was convinced we have selected the right people for the job.
“I have listened carefully to the chairman’s presentations and I want to assure the honourable members of this committee that the government will carefully study the report with a view to implementing some if not all the recommendations.”
The minister also assured that the present government’s resolve to completely eradicate insurgency and criminality in the north-east in particular and Nigeria in general remained unchanged.
“Let me also use this opportunity to warn any person, or group of individuals or organisations under whatever cover who wishes to test the collective will of this administration to know that we will not fold our arms and allow them to destroy our nation.
“All relevant security agencies of the Federal Republic of Nigeria have been mobilised to swing into action to identify and crush any possible threat to our country,” he warned.
Earlier, the chairman of the committee, Maj-Gen. Azgaku Umar (rtd) said that rehabilitation formed part of the larger government strategy in rebuilding the north-east.
He, however, noted that because of the security challenges in the affected areas that there were no civil and law enforcement agencies in the liberated areas for the restoration of civil rule.
Umar said the six-year insurgency has made it impossible for a significant presence of law enforcement agencies in the areas, adding that even the local authorities were not significantly present.
“But, with the successful efforts by the military to liberate these areas, there is the need to fill that vacuum. We went to the area and gave our advice accordingly,” he said.
He advised that internally displaced persons, while rebuilding their lives need basic needs like shelter, as some of them have lost everything and would need assistance to get off again.
*Photo: Muhammad Dan-Ali, Defence Minister