President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the country has overcome the worst of the Boko Haram insurgency.
The President, who said this while inaugurating the Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNI) on Wednesday in Abuja, attributed the successes recorded in the war against terror to the patriotic efforts of the armed forces.
He said thousands of the persons displaced by the acts of terror had since begun to return to their original communities following the significant degradation of the insurgents.
“Fortunately, the worst of the insurgency is behind us. This, we owe, principally to the brilliant efforts of our military, whose gallant efforts have significantly degraded the insurgency.
“With these successes, many displaced persons are willing and ready to return home to pick up their lives and move forward.’’
President Buhari reiterated his administration’s determination to speedily resettle the persons displaced by the insurgency and reconstruct the areas affected by the activities of Boko Haram in the North Eastern parts of the country.
He said the committee would be supported through a fund to be raised by the three tiers of government and through donations from development partners as well as friends of Nigeria.
He urged the committee to take immediate steps towards bringing succour to the Internally Displaced Persons.
In his remarks, the Committee Chairman, Lt. Gen. Theophilus Danjuma, reminded Nigerians that the task of rebuilding the North East region is the collective responsibility of all citizens.
He acknowledged the contributions from various sources, particularly during the previous fund-raising ceremony for the Victims Support Fund for the North East.
Danjuma, however, noted that only half of the pledges made during the fund raising were redeemed.
He, therefore, called on well-meaning individuals and organisations to key into the strategic coordination framework of PCNI.
He said the rebuilding of the North East would be resource intensive and could not be done overnight, adding: “this is a task that must be done in the overall interest of our country’’.
Danjuma expressed the commitment of the committee to effectively deliver on its mandate as the apex coordinating body for all interventions in the region.
“We assure everyone of the intention of the PCNI to perform its coordination role with professionalism, transparency and accountability,’’ he added.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the committee is expected to operate for three years.
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