By Fatima Saka
The North East Development Commission has set a 31 trillion Naira to convert the Validation of the North East Stabilisation and Development MasterPlan into the transformation of Ecology, Environmental Protection, Climate Change among the eleven pillars Roadmap project and Implementation Framework.
This was disclosed on Thursday in Abuja at the unveiling ceremony by the chairman of the North-East Development Commission, Major Gen. Paul Tarfa.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman said the development of the North-East is the legacy of President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure normalcy in that region.
Gen.Tarfa stated that the ten-year North-East Stabilization and Development Master Plan is an ambitious roadmap for the recovery, stabilization and long-term socio-economic development of the North-East Region.
Speaking on, the chairman further stated that the eleven pillars of the Master Plan comprise all the key sectors that the Region needs to focus on for it to return to a steady path of sustainable development. The cost of implementing the Master Plan which stands at about Thirty-One Trillion Naira (N31 Trillion), which is quite ambitious.
However, he outlined the estimated cost of the Pillars of the Master Plan and importantly, the baseline studies and stakeholder activities identified the following notable ones that need huge investments of about N450 Billion each over the Ten (10-year) implementation period.
“Leadership in Agriculture (Core Agriculture, Agribusiness, Food Security) – N458.6 billion.
“Healthy Citizens (Healthcare, Nutrition, Sanitation & Hygiene) – N1,734.49 billion.
“Educated Populace (Primary & Secondary Education, Tertiary Education, Technical & Vocational) – N1,123 billion.
“Flourishing Trade (Trade, Investment, Economic Development) -N461.3 billion.
“Purposeful Infrastructure (Housing, Transportation, ICT & Telecommunication, Water) – N14,005 billion.
“Industrialisation (Oil & Gas, Energy & Power, Mining) – N12,591.18 billion.
“The costs of the above six pillars and those of the remaining five, namely Peaceful Society (Recovery, Security, Peacebuilding), Productive Entrepreneurs (MSMEs, Commerce, Entrepreneurships), Memorable Experience (Arts & Culture, Sports & Recreation, Tourism), Protected Environment (Ecology, Environmental Protection, Climate Change) and Implementation Framework will sum up to the N31 Trillion mark,” the chairman said.
Also, in his welcomed address, Mohammed G. Alkali Managing Director/CEOo of NEDC stated that the proposed Ten (10-Year NESDMP) is also called the “Buhari Plans”.
He expresses that the plan is to develop Member States, Sectoral Development Plans, and Roadmaps of Federal MDAs, which are aligned with Projects being executed by Development Partners in the NE Zone.
Alkali further gave breakdown and highlights of the timebase of NESDMP:
“It contains Enterprise Values, Vision, Mission, and Strategic Objectives of NEDC as well as Strategic Vision and Direction for the NE Region.
“It runs from 2020 to 2030 in four implementation phases; Recovery & Stabilization (2020 – 2021), Renewal (2022 – 2023), Expansion (2024 – 2025) and Sustainable Growth (2026 – 2030).
“Our interventions cut across various sectors – education, health, WASH, agriculture, transport, housing, youth empowerment, reintegration, social cohesion, and capacity building, among others. Also, due to our commonalities with neighbouring countries in terms of fragility and ongoing crises, the Commission is involved in some projects in the Lake Chad Region, such as PROLAC (Lake Chad Recovery and Development Project) being implemented in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad,” he added.
Also, Boss G. Mustapha, the secretary to the Government of the Federation said the NEDC Act mandates of the Commission is to “liaise with Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, States and Development Partners for the implementation of all measures approved in the Master Plan for the stabilization and development of the North-East Zone by the Federal Government”.
“It also requires the NEDC to “interface with Development Partners (Local or International) and NonGovernmental Organizations to ensure synergy with other Stakeholders in line with,” he stated.
