Borno Government on Sunday said it would partner Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to rebuild communities ravaged by Boko Haram insurgency.
The state governor, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, made the disclosure while receiving FHA Managing Director, Prof. Muhammad Al Amin, who visited him in Maiduguri.
“There is no better time than now for this kind of partnership towards rebuilding structures destroyed by the terrorists; we are very happy and grateful for the intervention, which is timely.
“As you are aware, most of our local government areas have been destroyed by the terrorists; places like Monguno, Marte, Guza-Mala, Kala-Balge and Dikwa.
“These towns have been totally destroyed, especially Bama, where almost 98 per cent of the houses were ravaged by the terrorists,” said Shettima, who was represented by the Commissioner for Works and Transport, Alhaji Adamu Lawan.
He said that in a bid to facilitate the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the state government had created the Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement.
“The new ministry is charged with the resettlement of the IDPs back home, because of the nature of the damage caused by terrorists. But, with the intervention of FHA, the sky will be our limit,” he said.
He said that the government would also take advantage of FHA’s Rammed Earth Building Technology to reconstruct old monuments destroyed by the terrorists across the state.
“It is an opportunity for us to reconstruct our locally made houses that had been there for hundreds of years.
“May be, it is time to reconstruct our old monuments in towns like Dikwa, so we can modernise the place for our people to get better life.
“I think that the most important thing is to thank the Federal Government for subduing the terrorists,” he said.
Shettima emphasised that its government had produced over one million cement blocks towards reconstruction of the communities.
“The exercise is still ongoing; we produce over 300,000 blocks daily,” he said.
Earlier, Al Amin had disclosed that the authority was working on plans to train the IDPs on the Rammed-Earth technology towards rebuilding their homes with ease and with little resources.
“Apart from saving cost, the technology will enable IDPs to reconstruct their homes in a very short while.
“For example, an individual can erect a three bedroom bungalow in three to four days using the technology,” Al Amin said.
He said that the training will start with community leaders before going on to other members of the communities.
“We are going to start by training 60 community leaders on the technology.
“But, the program is not just training, we want them to appreciate what the technology can do to the communities as a strategy towards imbibing the innovation,” Al Amin said.
(NAN)
