Boko Haram crisis: Borno spends N1b on reconstruction of victims’ buildings – Governor

Boko Haram crisis: Borno spends N1b on reconstruction of victims’ buildings – Governor
The Borno State Government on Tuesday said it spent N1 billion this year on rehabilitation and reconstruction of Boko Haram victims’ buildings, destroyed by the insurgents.
Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State made the disclosure when he received members of the Presidential Fact Finding Committee on Abducted Schoolgirls of Chibok in Maiduguri.
Shettima said: “This year alone, we spent close to N1 billion on victims of Boko Haram crisis.
“In Gwoza, we spent N200 million to reconstruct destroyed houses, markets, places of worship and provided cash to victims to feed themselves and families or start small businesses in the interim.
“In Bama, we spent N300 million for same purpose.
“In Konduga, we spent N200 million.”
Shettima said the government could not provide immediate assistance to the victims of the insurgency in Chibok due to the sad abduction of the Government Girls Secondary School students.
The governor added: “Unfortunately, we had to hold what we should have done for Chibok people for a while.
“If we had released some material support earlier, some bad elements would have said we tried to buy the people of Chibok.
“Unlike other communities in which private houses and markets were destroyed, public institutions like schools, the council secretariat, the residence of the council chairman and some few shops were destroyed in Chibok.”
The governor said that the Boko Haram insurgency had created enormous hardships on the people, adding: “In the last three years, we have witnessed the most turbulent of times as a people.
“I have seen the most terrible incidents as a governor.
“I have come across innocent citizens of Borno killed in thousands, some slaughtered by fellow human beings who think they earn rewards from God by their brutality.
“I have witnessed high-scale destruction inflicted on us as people in Borno by fellow human beings, who again think they earn reward from God by their intentional and planned devastation.
“I have in the last 36 days also come across a situation where men abducted young, innocent schoolgirls, separated them from their education, from their parents, from their relations and friends and from their environment.”
Shettima lamented that the Boko Haram members had tarnished the image of Islam by their deeds.
He said: “These men that kill, destroy and abduct are insults on Islam and a huge embarrassment to Muslims worldwide.
“They have contradicted every single tenet of Islam and have tried in some cases to change the ordained translation of some verses in the Holy Qur’an.
“To every Muslim, a verse of the Holy Qur’an has clearly said that there is no compulsion in religion, but to these men of violence, there is compulsion not only in religion but even in Islamic ideology.
“To these men, any human who doesn’t share their ideology deserves to be brutally killed.
“A Muslim that is not of the Boko Haram sect is condemned to death.
“To them, the human race should go into extinction for their doctrine to thrive.
“All these are ridiculous to Islam and had never been part of Islam.”
Shettima also expressed sadness over the April 14 abduction of the 230 GGSS Chibok students.
He expressed sadness over the initial doubt on the abduction, saying: “The initial doubt expressed in some quarters over the abduction pains me because as government, it is unimaginable to think that such a thing could be fabricated.”
Earlier, retired Brigadier General Ibrahim Sabo had informed the governor that the visit was part of the committee’s fact-finding mission to the state.
Sabo, who is the Chairman of the committee, said the membership of the committee is made up of personalities with proven integrity in various spares of life.
He said: “We promise to do our work with absolute patriotism and fear of God.
“We pray that God will be our guardian so that we can carry out the assignment successfully.”