Buhari: our plan for Northeast

President-elect Muhammadu Buhari has unveiled a comprehensive plan for the Northeast – the zone hardest hit by the Boko Haram insurgency.

The economy of the states, especially Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, is reeling under the effect of the killings and general insecurity.

Gen. Buhari told a Borno State delegation led by Governor Kashim Shettima, which visited him in Kaduna on Sunday, that Lake Chad will get special attention so as to create jobs in agriculture for the teeming youths.

He promised to give priority to ending the insurgency to bring stability to the zone.

Besides, the search for oil along the Chad Basin will be funded.

There will also be collaboration with neighbouring Chad, Niger and Cameroon to curtail Boko Haram’s transborder movement;cut supply of arms and block recruitment and training of recruits.

Gen. Buhari said the stability of the Northeast would be a project because nothing can be achieved without peace and security.

Shettima was accompanied by Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn Umar Garbai Elkanemi, and some elders, led by the Chairman of Borno Elders Forum Amb. Usman Gaji Galtimari.

The president-elect also assured the delegation that the receding of the Lake Chad will be addressed through the transfer of water from Central African Republic to the lake to boost its commercial activities for fishing and irrigation farming.

He recalled that he once read a document raising fears about the Lake Chad receding, which he handed over to then President Olusegun Obasanjo. Gen. Buhari said Lake Chad could create millions of jobs through agriculture.

He maintained that prospecting for oil in the Lake Chad basin would not only increase the export potential but also to balance cross regional perceptions and manage agitations so as to enhance the country’s stability.

He promised to pay special attention to the economic potential of the Northeast so as to make it attractive for investments.

Shettima said Borno people felt so much attached to General Buhari being a former Military Governor of the old Northeast with headquarters in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital and looked up to him with so much hope. He pleaded with the incoming President to pay special attention to the affairs of the state.

The Shehu of Borno urged the president-elect to consider a Federal Government takeover of the welfare of youth volunteers fighting insurgency in the state, noting that the state government had been spending so much managing the Boko Haram insurgency.

He pleaded for Gen. Buhari’s intervention on resumption of commercial airlines flights to Maiduguri international Airport, which has been suspended for almost two years.

Buhari yesterday met with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Kaduna.

There were no details of the discussion by the two leaders but the president-elect left for Abuja after the meeting to receive Ivorian President Alhassan Quattara.

The Chairman of Borno Elders Forum expressed optimism that with the president-elect’s track record of service, elders in the state reposed so much confidence in him.