Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has admitted that the task of rebuilding, restoring and rehabilitating the towns and villages, including fixing brick and mortar as well as mending hearts and minds “damaged by senseless murderous violence” is many and profound.
He stressed also that it would cost money and time but that neither money nor time can fix the trauma of loss of family, relations and friends, the shame and pain of the raped, the scars and fears of the parents of the abducted and kidnapped as well as the loss of homes and possessions and livelihoods, the hundreds of thousands of orphaned children.
Vice President Osinbajo spoke today at the opening of the North-East Humanitarian Multi-stakeholders Engagement meeting at the Government House, Maiduguri, Borno State.
He said: “we are called not just to mend hearts and minds of victims but also of their traducers, and killers. The young men and women who have been brainwashed to kill, maim and destroy in the warped believe that by doing so they please God.”
Osinbajo said that the North-East humanitarian stakeholders meeting was important not just for what it plans to achieve, including the presentation and endorsement of collaborative efforts to the North East but also for the fact that the meeting was taking place in Maiduguri which probably suffered the most loss of lives and property in the six years of Boko Haram scourge.
The Vice President empathized that the North-East region has suffered tremendously in the areas of the destruction of infrastructure, farmlands, businesses and trades, the destruction of schools and the loss of school years.
The Vice President who commended the civil society groups, funding partners, regional and international partners, told the stakeholders that though much have been done but that much more still needs to be done
According to Professor Osinbajo, the meeting was the “expression of our collective determination to, find the most effective and creative ways to intervene in restoring the dignity, family lives and livelihood of hundreds of thousands of IDPs in the North- East.
“One of the goals of this initiatives is to strengthen the capacities of existing Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), especially in the region, and to aide the development of others where noticeable and important gaps exist.
He announced that the Presidential Initiative for the North-East will unveil a plan to help develop the capacities of NGOs in the region and grow new ones where needed.
Earlier, the governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shttima commended the federal government, President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo for commitment to restore peace and development of the region.
He said that due to the unflinching support of the Vice President, the military and civil society Organisations as well as the United Nations, peace and commercial activities have returned to Borno State and IDPs have also returned to the state. [myad]
