Borno, Yobe elders demand N300bn intervention fund

    
A former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ambassador Babangana Kingibe, and two others have asked the Federal Government to raise N300bn Emergency Special Intervention Fund for the troubled Yobe and Borno states.
This, they said, should be at N60bn a year over a period of five years for reconstruction projects.
The two others are Ambassador Baba Kaigama and Ibrahim Bunu, an architect.
 They stated this in the memorandum on security challenges in the two states submitted on Thursday to the National Conference, in Abuja, an obtained by our correspondent.
The writers accused security agencies of being responsible for some of the atrocities visited on innocent civilians in the North East.
They recalled how the Taliban, which according to them, later transformed to Boko Haram, started its violent activities in 2003.
They also explained how the killing of the Boko Haram leader, Mohammed Yusuf, had led to “distrust between the public and members of the security agencies, who up until now, had failed to win the hearts and minds of the people.”
The elders queried the decision by the government to disband the civilian JTF “without any alternative plan” to secure the cities.
“Both Maiduguri and Damaturu had experienced a rare period of peace before bombs and wanton shootings returned to Maiduguri recently,” they stated.
The writers appealed to Boko Haram members to embrace dialogue with the Federal Government in the interest of all.
While thanking government for its efforts to alleviate the suffering of victims of the insurgency in the region, they added that the 600 trucks of grains released to victims in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states were “nowhere near adequate.”