Insurgency: Senate urges Danjuma committee to rehabilitate North East

The Senate has urged the retired Lieutenant General Theophilus Danjuma Committee on the North East Rehabilitation to expedite action on effective utilisation of funds donated by stakeholders to cater for Internally Displaced Persons.
This followed the consideration of a report of the Committee on Special Duties in respect of the motion on establishment of Presidential Intervention Committee on Rehabilitation of the North East.
The Senate also called on the National Directorate of Employment to establish skills acquisition centres in IDP camps across the country.
It expressed commitment to amending the National Refugee Commission Act to enable the commission to function properly.
The red chamber urged the commission to coordinate all Federal Government development partners and non-governmental organisation’s initiatives on insurgency pending establishment of the North-East Development Commission.
In his presentation, the Chairman of the Committee on Special Duties, Abdul-Aziz Nyako, said the need for a development commission to be in charge of rehabilitating the North East could not be undermined.
Nyako said the havoc wrecked in the zone by the insurgency demanded lasting solution, adding that statistics had shown that no fewer than four million children in the zone were malnourished.
“Schools have been destroyed, while many teachers have lost their lives and this has led to anxiety about their future,” he said.
Nyako lamented that the Refugee Commission Act was mainly concerned with refugees from other countries and Nigerian refugees in other countries, but that there was no provision in the Act for IDPs.
He, therefore, called for amendment of the Act to include Nigerians who became refugees within the country.
He also called for improved funding for the refugee commission and National Emergency Management Agency, saying that there was the need to appropriate enough money to both agencies.
“Only N2.4 billion and N1.34 billion have been budgeted for the Refugee Commission and NEMA and this is only 0.06 per cent of the budget,” he said.
In their contributions, senators expressed support for the establishment of the commission for quick rehabilitation of the North East.
They said some of the victims of insurgency had been displaced for over three years.
They added that beyond being displaced and robbed of their livelihoods, many of the victims were going through psychological problem.
In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, commended the committee for the recommendations.
Saraki expressed the chamber’s determination to expeditiously pass the bill through third reading to ensure quick implementation.
He said: “The real issue is to pass the bill as soon as possible, while we urge the Leader of the Senate to present a proposed motion on funding for victims of insurgency.
“The situation is becoming permanent and we need to find a lasting solution to it.”
Meanwhile, the Public Private Partnership Regulatory Commission Bill 2016 and five other bills passed first reading on Thursday at the Senate.
The other bills are the Nigeria in Diaspora Commission Bill 2016; Public Procurement (Establishment) Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill 2016; Electoral Act 2010 (amendment) Bill 2016; and FCT Borderline Communities Development Commission Bill 2016.
Also, the Senate received the report of the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions.
NAN.