Borno Government and Implementing Partners have met in Maiduguri to assess the impact of the European Union (EU) support for response, recovery and resilience in the state.
The EU intervention that is being rounded up known as “Borno Package” involved 17 recovery and resilience projects across the state in areas of healt, education, agriculture, housing, water supply and empowerment among others.
Declaring the meeting open in Maiduguri on Thursday, the Borno Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Engr. Mustaph Gubio said the interventions has touched the lives of about three million people.
Gubio who was represented by the Special Adviser to Gov. Babagana Zulum on Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Alhaji Abdulkarim Lawan, said the interventions impacted immensely on the state post insurgency recovery effort.
He thanked EU and implementing partners for the support and urged for phase two of the project to cover resettled communities.
Also pleading for phase two of the project, the Borno Commissioner of Information, Alhai Babakura Abba-Jato said the state needed further support to consolidate on progress made.
Abba-Jato said that the state is currently expending it scarce resources on supporting resettled communities and catering for over 80,000 repentant insurgents in custody, a development he said was not sustainable without support from partners.
In his remarks, Dr Bunu Monguno, the Executive Secretary of the Agency for Coordinating Sustainable Development and Humanitarian Response, lauded the intervention which said started in 2017 for kick starting the lives of many people in the state affected by the insurgency.
Monguno who lauded all those involved in the success story urged for a second phase of the project sustain the tempo.
Meanwhile, in its message to the occassion, EU reiterates commitment to sustain the support to Borno and lauded the effort of implementing partners.
Some of the Implementing partners that made presentation of thier activities in Borno at the meeting included UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), World Health Organization (WHO), Mercy Corps and British Council (MCN).
Others are Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP), UN Women, International Rescue Committee, Plan International and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and Centre for Civilians in Conflict.
Highlights of the meeting included testimonies from beneficiaries, group work on sustainability and the way forward.
