The Federal Government of Nigeria says it has set aside 12 billion Naira in the 2016 budget to rebuild the northeast

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, gave the figure on Friday at an event to launch the 2016 National Human Development Report on Nigeria.

Senator Udoma said that in line with the United Nations Development Programme’s 2016 Human Security report, the present administration had put Nigerians at the centre of its development programme to mitigate the negative indices that threatened the security of lives and property.

He stated that the government had plans to ensure a better standard of living for the citizens which in turn would enhance development and security in the country.

At the event were government officials, diplomats, civil society groups and activists.

Earlier, the Country Representative of the United Nations Development Fund, Ms Fatma Samoura, outlined the findings and recommendations from the report.

According to her, the insecurity in Nigeria’s northeast was a reflection of the level of development in the nation, stressing that there was therefore the need for a holistic approach to mitigate the insecurity challenges.

The consensus at the event was that the issue of security must be reconceptualised to go beyond the physical security to meeting the developmental needs of the citizenry.

Communities in Nigeria’s northeast, especially in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe State are in great need of reconstruction.

A terrorist group, Boko Haram, had in its over six years push for an Islamic State and an end to Western education in northeast Nigeria, ravaged communities, displaced over two million persons and killed thousands.

Most schools and places of worship in the region have been razed by the group that are fleeing the region, in the midst of heightened counter-terrorism operations by Nigerian troops and a Joint Multinational Task Force formed by Nigeria its neighbours. (Channels TV)

•Photo shows Udo Udoma.

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