Hope is rising for the return of
millions of internally displaced Nigerians to their homes and communities as
the planning for the rebuilding of the North-Eastern states affected by
insurgency has advanced significantly.
Last week the pre-financing
assessment jointly carried out by the federal and states governments alongside
the global partners: the United Nations, World Bank and the European Union was
completed at a workshop in Abuja.
The global partners
who had signed a tripartite agreement to facilitate the assessment are now
expected to support the federal government in the financing of the NorthEast
reconstruction including an offer by the World Bank to make available $800
million towards the rebuilding.
There are also clear
indications from the global partners to do more in terms putting in place an
institutional framework to rebuild, arranging financing even from other
development agencies and additional sources.
The assessment and validation
exercises completed in Nigeria’s North-East region has revealed the
quantum of damage and the requirements to address the post- conflict recovery.
For instance while the extent of damage was put at about $9B, the assessment
revealed that over $6B would be needed for immediate and near term
stabilization and recovery of the region.
During the final aspects of the
assessment late last week in Abuja, international development partners and
donors reiterated their commitments towards ensuring that key findings of the
assessments are implemented.
This re-assurance was secured after
the completion of the 2-day validation and consensus building workshop at the
Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja, convened by the Federal Government, World
Bank, the European Union and the United Nations in conjunction with
representatives of the six affected states to review findings and chart way
forward.
Specifically the joint
efforts of the federal and state governments with the global partners would now
be directed to prioritizing the needed interventions and projects,
arranging their sequence and coming up with an action plan.
For instance, the Sector Manager,
Urban Development and Disaster Risk Management at the World Bank Headquarters
in Washington, Mr. Idrissa Dia said the physical participation of the Bank at
the validation workshop last week in Abuja is an affirmation that the global
financial institution is encouraged by the initial feedbacks on the findings of
the recovery and assessment.
He then reaffirmed the Bank’s
commitments and support towards the overall success of the planned
interventions. Mr. Dia said the World Bank is set to mobilize other bodies
in the World Bank Group and partners that might be interested beyond the
existing donors on the project. According to
the World Bank representative at the event, “In line with the magnitude of the
needs we are confronted with, we would like to also mobilize beyond the set of
donors here,” he said adding that there are other big players that would
be able to come into play in support of the forthcoming interventions.
On his part, the European Union’s
Acting Head of Cooperation, Mr Juan Casla expressed
satisfaction with the findings of the assessment saying with the leadership
displayed in the process by the Federal Government, the different states and
the international donor agencies, the EU is now ready to discuss the pledges it
made and move forward with implementation in collaboration with other partners
and the Government of Nigeria, both at the Federal and State levels.
“These findings provide shared understanding between the
Government of Nigeria and its humanitarian and development partners on a set of
priotized, sequenced interventions and the EU as a member of the International
partnership involved in this assessment is ever- committed towards ensuring the
implementation of these findings,” Casla stated.
Mr. Casla said from his experience in this type of interventions,
he has seen that the team led by the Senior Special Assistant to the President
on IDPs, Dr. Marian Masha has been able to put in place a thorough assessment
in a complex and challenging situation in the North East.
According to the UN
representative at the event, Mrs. Jean Gough, the United Nations is pleased
with the successes of the assessment, harping on the readiness of the World
body to provide technical and other humanitarian support towards achieving the
goals of the post-assessment phase of the planning.
The RPBA findings have estimated
that a sum of about $9 Billion Dollars will be required for the
rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged infrastructures in the in
the six North-East States of Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe.
The findings
also revealed that the six states would need $6.4 billion to undertake recovery
efforts to cushion the devastation inflicted on the North-East Region between
2011 and 2015.
The assessments were carried out
under the three main components of Infrastructure and Social Services, Peace
Building, Stability & Social Cohesion, and Economic Recovery with
focus on cross-cutting issues such as governance and accountability, citizen
engagement, institutional capacity for implementation, gender, youth, human
rights and de-mining.
Dr
Mariam Masha had disclosed that Borno state was worse hit by the crisis with a
loss of $6 billion. According to her, the region suffered damages worth $3
billion in housing alone while it also suffered damages in terms of livestock
which brought about the need to restore agriculture in the region.
According
to her "what this process brings home is that it helps to create a
platform to harmonise resources, to coordinate better, support and planning at
the federal and state levels, and support also from international donors and
partners."
The
RPBA findings also revealed that Yobe and Adamawa states were next in
devastation, adding that the destruction in other parts of the region is
enormous but with less gravity.
Dr.
Masha added that no fewer than 20,000 lives were lost while 1.8 million people
were displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency and the planned interventions are
to be implemented over time, in view of resources that are available for its
implementation.
“Crisis
recovery in the North-East is a priority of the Nigerian Government and this
has been demonstrated by the ownership and leadership of the recovery
assessment process, it has helped in securing the continued support of the
partners, donors and other critical stakeholders. The plan and
implementation strategy are critical to the success of the recovery
efforts. It is not so much about the amount of financial resources that
are available, but how we are able to utilize the resources and the capacity to
put them to use”, Dr. Masha remarked.
The
Three–volume report of the Nigeria Recovery and Peace Building
Assessment (RPBA) recommended a 2-phase strategic plan of two years
for stabilization and a recovery phase of 2 years to restore the North-East to
progress and development. The two phases of stabilization and recovery are
fluid and will run concurrently, covering such areas as agriculture, housing,
transportation and education over the period.
The
Nigeria Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) is the process that
assesses the physical, social and economic impacts of the crisis in the
North-East, resulting in a report to guide the process of stabilization in the
region through a variety of recovery strategies.
These strategies will help reduce
suffering in affected communities, restore a sense of normalcy and regain the
trust of people in the region.
It would be recalled that the
Federal Government had in January unveiled this assessment programme which is a
joint, high-level collaboration between the Government of Nigeria and three
global development partners - the World Bank, EU and the UN - aimed at
supporting Government in its short and medium term efforts towards peace
building and sustainable recovery in the North-East region of the country.
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