Expdonaloaded News; Boko Haram: Adamawa votes N200m to rehabilitate IDPs

Adamawa State governor, Umar Jubrilla Bindow, has unveiled a N200 million plan to rehabilitate internally displaced persons (DPS), who are at the receiving end of the insurgency in the North-East states. The state currently hosts Nigeria’s largest population of IDPs, mostly from Borno and Yobe sates.
Speaking with newsmen yesterday in Abuja, Governor Bindow said his administration had announced the setting up of a N200 million security budget, of which over N50 million would form a part of the state’s internal contribution to co-funding counter-insurgency operations, aided by local vigilante and intelligence gathering, while about N50 million would go into helping to manage the internal refugee crisis. Part of the funds, according to the governor, would be directly managed by organisations, which, until now, had been helping to provide community-based restoration and rehabilitation of victims of the insurgency, independent of the government. He said his administration’s decision to partner local and religious organisations was informed by its conviction that they were closer to the people at the grassroots, making them valuable partners in local security response and post-incident recovery. Governor Bindow said: “The country is facing a guerrilla-style insurgency, which is different from conventional warfare.” We are affected; our neighbours are affected too, maybe more than we are. It is important that the state adopts a community-based approach to response, both in terms of assisting the military effort, and in rehabilitation.”