The Chairman House of Representatives Committee on the North East Development Commission NEDC, Mr. Usman Zanna, has stressed the need for more funding to the Commission to execute more development projects in the region.
Zanna made this known when he led members of the Committee on oversight visit to some NEDC projects in Mafa and Jere local government areas of Borno state.
The House of Representatives Committee on NEDC first inspected the 52-kilometer road network, also known as Jere bowl, which connects seven agrarian communities in two local government areas of Mafa and Jere.
The Communities are Ngowom, Koshobe, Galamari, Dusuman, Gongulong, Zabarmari and Khaddamari.
The first phase of 22.5 kilometers have been completed , while the remaining 27 kilometers is expected to be completed before the end of the year.
Briefing the committee members at Koshobe, the project consultant, Mohammed Abba Sanda who said 13,5 billion naira is the cost of the project, disclosed that the high cost of cement and other materials was affecting the construction work.
Managing Director North East Development Commission , Alhaji Mohammed Alkali explained that the project when completed will boost farming activities and also improve food security in the region.
“Jere bowl is one of the agricultural belt when properly harnessed will create employment and address food insecurity ” Alkali said.
Chairman House Committee on NEDC, Usman Zanna commended the Commission for initiating the project, describing it as one of the best in the country.
He remarked that with more funding, the North East Development Commission has the capacity to transform the region which has been devastated by fifteen years of insurgency.
“To carry out this developmental strides in the affected States is not easy, we have to deploy available means to attract funding in order to carry out more developmental projects in the North East” Zanna remarked.
Meanwhile, the Commission has donated 1,000 water pumps, 400 cartons of herbicide, 200 grinding machines and 200 spaghetti making machines to farmers in Jere and Mafa local governments.
Correspondent Dauda Iliya reports that the Committee also inspected, Alau Dam, NEDC warehouse and the Commission’s Borno state office.
Dauda Iliya
