Danish group to de-mine Bama, help in reconstruction

A six-man delegation of the Danish Refugee Council visited Borno’s Governor Kashim Shettima in his Bama office Thursday, a day after the governor moved to the temporary site.

The team met Shettima at the 21 Armoured Brigade reception tent in Bama to discuss how the council will assist in de-mining farmlands so as to encourage returnees from the Internally Displaced People’s camps to get back to farm.

The delegation said they observed the level of destruction in Bama, and the readiness of the people to return to their means of livelihood which is farming.

“We will offer to bring specialists to remove mines planted in those farms to make it possible for people to use the farms. We will also want to know your other priorities so as to know where to intervene”, the Danish group told Shettima.

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They discussed other offers of partnership with the government in the rebuilding efforts currently going on in Borno works.

He said he moved his office 75km away from Maiduguri, the state capital, to monitor the reconstruction of the town which Boko Haram razed in the heady days of the insurgents in the north-eastern.

According to him, the terrorists had destroyed virtually all the primary schools, thousands of private houses, municipal buildings, private homes, clinics, markets and water installations.

The governor, however, told them his government would prefer intervention that would come in the form of building materials, reconstruction of schools, intervention on agriculture to create jobs and gender empowerment, especially in educating and empowering of women.

He said he would first focus on rebuilding schools, healthcare institutions, water installations and some private homes.