ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met separately with three Northern governors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The governors are Yobe State, Ibrahim Geidam; Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, Jigawa State, Abubakar Badaru.
Geidam briefed Buhari on the latest development regarding Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) some of whom have returned home following the restoration of peace and calm in the North East state.
Governor Geidam told State House correspondents after meeting with Buhari on Monday at the Aso Rock Villa that Yobe State has not witnessed any major insurgency attack in the last two years
The governor, however, said the state is currently faced with the challenge of reintegrating insurgency victims and reconstructing areas destroyed in the heat of the Boko Haram attacks.
He said, “I told him that I was here to brief him and at the same time, tell him the state of affairs of my state, that is Yobe State which, is the frontline state in terms of insurgency.
“I told him that we have now gotten relative peace in Yobe State in terms of the insurgency. For the past two years or so, we have not had any attack by the insurgents in Yobe State. So I accordingly briefed him and told him that all our IDPs have returned to their bases and resumed their normal businesses. Our problems now are bothering on resettlement, rehabilitation and reconstruction of the destroyed areas by the Boko Haram.
“I told him that as government, we have been doing our best to restore all those facilities which were destroyed by Boko Haram but we needed assistance from the Federal Government which he promised assisting.”
“Well, in terms of reconstruction, rehabilitation, although there is the Presidential Committee in the North East, they are doing their best but they need to do more. That is what I told Mr. President. Some of our people lost their livelihood, their farms, homes etc. They need to be given some amount of money or the Federal Government through the Presidential Committee may assist them to reconstruct or rebuild their houses so that they can start their normal lives.”
Asked how much support has the Presidential initiative so far given, the Yobe State governor said, “Well, we have not received a kobo in terms of cash but in terms of materials, food and non-food items, we have been receiving a lot which I cannot tell you precisely in a quantified form here, we have received enough. But during the last administration, Yobe State took care of the Joint Task Force which is a combination of the military, the SSS, the Police, the Mobile Police, who were carrying out the war against the insurgency. We even paid their allowances, all their logistical needs including patrol vehicles.
“We have spent quite substantial amount of money in that direction up to about N13 billion during the time of insurgency and we have submitted to the Federal Government if they could refund even 30 percent of that so that we can deploy it in establishment of some infrastructure like hospital. Recently, we have awarded contract for construction of cargo airport, if we can get a portion of that money, it will go a long way in relieving some of our problems.”
Tambuwal, on his part, told reporters that he also briefed the President on the feasibility of searching for oil and gas in the Sokoto Basin.
According to him, the state has enough gas deposits which if harnessed could address the electricity supply challenges in the state.
He said, “I came to see our leader, President Muhammadu Buhari and we had discussion on quite a number of issues, of specific mention is the issue of the general well-being of the country, security situation of the country.
“I am sure you are aware that recently we were in the South East, as governors from the North went to interact with our brothers in the syouth East and South syouth and particularly people of the North residing there so there was a need for a feedback.
“Also we have discussed with the President, if you remember very well recently, I was personally at the NNPC Towers where we engaged the GMD of the NNPC on possible oil exploration in the Sokoto Basin and I have had cause to brief the president on that particular interaction.
“There is a need for the Federal Government to continue to support that endeavour which I believe will help in more provision of oil and gas which we believe is very much in abundance in this basin but also in bringing about agricultural revolution in that area. If you have gas it will support the power supply which will in turn enhance and influence agro-allied industries that are likely to come on board and also have a positive impact economically on the lives and well-being of the people that are along the basin. These are some of the issues we discussed with Mr. President.
“It has always been there since 1957, when the first attempt was made but with the discovery of oil in the Delta which we believe from the information we have is easier to exploit, there was a shift in focus to that of Niger Delta. We believe particularly the issue of gas, we need it for our local consumption, we have the conviction that what we have in that area is more than sufficient for an upward of 20 to 30 years of use by the people of the area.
“If explored, we don’t have to make pipelines from the Delta region up north to North West states of Sokoto, Zamfara and Katsina. If you do that you will ease the problem of evacuation and transportation or piping as it were of gas and Petroleum products. So it’s a way of providing cheaper services to the people.”
Badaru, said he discussed issues on agriculture. He also debunked reports that lawmakers in the state were planning to impeach him.