Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima on
Sunday inaugurated the distribution of food items and farm outreach
committee targeting 40,000 victims of the Boko Haram insurgency through
the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which donated one
million dollars to the Borno State Government as a post conflict
intervention meant to support victims who are returning to their
communities.
Shettima inaugurated the support
commitee to begin with the distribution of 25 kilogram bag of rice and
10 kilogram bag of beans to each of 1,100 households at Mainok village
in Kaga local government area, 45 kilometres away from Maiduguri.
The governor said officials of the state government working with the Gates Foundation used the $1m to procure the food items and commenced funding of 100 hectares of farm where beans is being cultivated.
The governor said officials of the state government working with the Gates Foundation used the $1m to procure the food items and commenced funding of 100 hectares of farm where beans is being cultivated.
He explained that 200 farm-families
would be allocated tilled and fertile land measuring half hectare each
along with improved seeds, fertilizer, chemicals and technical
supervision so that they can start growing food crops. The Governor also
announced the release of two trucks of maize grid to add to the food
procured with the Gates’ donation.
“We are grateful to God for creating people like Mr Bill Gates and his
dear wife, Melinda. These leading lights of philanthropy across the
world have shown love to the good people of Borno State at a time we are
on the ground and looking for any hand to hold in trying to lift
ourselves up.
“Now, with the emerging peace in Borno
State, it is only necessary that as Post Insurgency response, focus
should be combined in supporting all categories of the victims from
those at Internally Displaced Persons, those in communities within
Maiduguri, those in our satellite camps outside Maiduguri, those in
communities across different local government areas who are returning to
their homes and those being resettled.
“It is in this regard, that we are
gathered today to Flag off the distribution of a key intervention of one
million dollars food and farming aide donated by the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation. Let me say it for the record, that unlike majority of
interventions which happily came to us in kind, the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation donated cash of one million dollars to the Borno State
Government. “It is the State Government that is carrying out procurement
in the implementation of this particular intervention. The intervention
is targeting returning and re-settling communities by giving them food
aid and also helping them to return to their familiar ways of producing
food for themselves and for commercial purposes.
“The intervention from the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation is being used for food supplies and to fund
farming activities for households. As a preliminary stage, beans is
being cultivated in one hundred hectares of land. Half hectare is being
allocated to a farm-family with a target of reaching 200 households.
Each household may have from 2 to 10 family members.
“Already, farms have been established in
Konduga and Damboa. Each household is to be allocated not only tilled
and fertile land but also improved variety of seeds, fertilizer,
chemicals and most importantly, technical field supervision by extension
workers.
“On the food aspect, one thousand, one hundred households, not
individuals, will be given a 25 kilogram bag of rice and a 10-kilogram
bag for each household here in Mainok, Kaga local government area. The
intervention aims at reaching 40,000 victims of the insurgency through
households on both food aid and farming activity.
“We are particularly interested in
ensuring that citizens begin to produce food crops in safe locations
because direct food aid in post conflict situations is never sustainable
over a long period of time” Shettima said.
Officials of the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) witnessed the
distribution with goodwill presented by them.
The Commissioner for Reconstruction,
Rehabilitation and Resettlement in Borno State, Dr Babagana Umara Zulum
explained that two trucks of food items as well as two farms in Damboa
and Konduga funded through the Gates donation were ready for immediate
access on Sunday while more communities were to benefit in a continuous
exercise.
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