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Kashim Shettima who is Borno State Governor, has come to say that some of his colleagues
in the North-east were making false claims about the situation of
internally displaced persons and destruction wrecked Boko Haram
insurgents in their states. This is what he said…..

“When it comes to goodies, you will be seeing states that suffer the
least, exaggerating the sufferings inflicted on their society Boko
Haram as if such a thing is a badge of honor.”

He spoke on Friday, October 28th in Government House, Maiduguri when he
hosted a delegation of the United Nations Fund for Population
Activities (UNFPA), led its deputy regional director for West and
East Africa, Beatrice Mutali, Shettima said the governors were
exaggerating the impact of the insurgency in their domains to rake in
donations from philanthropists and international donor agencies.
 
Shetimtma added that his state was the epicenter of the insurgency and
suffered over 80 percent of the destruction Boko Haram, adding that
he was worried that some sister states not much touched the
insurgency were allegedly lying to draw donors’ attention.
 Expressing his gratitude to the UN system for its interventions, Mr.
Shettima said the state had not been getting its fair share of the
supports coming from the international donor agencies because of bogus
claims he said were being made other states.

In his words…”We truly appreciate your efforts. But we really need you to step up
your activities in the state because Borno, most sadly, is the nerve
center of Boko Haram; but when it comes to goodies, you will be seeing
states that suffer the least, exaggerating the sufferings inflicted on
their society Boko Haram as if such a thing is a badge of honor.

“To me, I am not proud to say Borno state is the nerve center of Boko
Haram. But states where, one, two or three local government are occupied
Boko Haram will exaggerate it and say up to ten of their local
government areas had been occupied Boko Haram; or you hear them
saying 15 local government areas were conquered Boko Haram in Adamawa
state, or in Yobe state or in Taraba state

“People are even exaggerating the numbers of IDPs they have. And mind
you, if you go to Adamawa, the IDPs are from Borno state; just like if
you go to Cameroon, the Nigerian refugees there, 95 percent of the IDPs
are from Borno state; so also in Niger Republic. But it is not for me
to say they should be denied any support.

“However any support you give us, you are just here to complement our
efforts. We in Borno are very proud and self-contented people. We will
never beg any organisation or group for support; rather we will implore
on them on a pedestal of equality to assist our people in these our
hours of need”

“Women and children bore the brunt of this madness called Boko Haram;
women are the victims of gender-based violence, and they really need
psycho-social support to overcome their trauma”, said Governor Shettima.

“Just a couple of weeks ago, the Nigerian military handed over to us
over 500 kids and brutalized women; they were wives and kids of Boko
Haram combatants. But my personal take on it is that these women and
children were as much victims of Boko Haram as any other people in our
community because most of them were married off to the Boko Haram
members not in their own volition.

“They were literally kidnapped and held as sex slaves of Boko Haram.
And the kids are utterly blameless; you cannot ostracize those kids; you
cannot maltreat or profile them as Boko Haram kids so they should not
have access to education and so on. After the de-radicalization
programme, we are poised to see that they are reintegrated into the
society, they are sufficiently empowered, and we will provide equal
opportunity for the kids”, the governor said.

UNFPA team presented a review of the organization’s operations and interventions in the state.

“We are going to scale up our efforts in the psycho-social supports,
gender based violence and humanitarian services”, the leader of the
delegation, Ms. Mutali said.

The UNFPA claimed it trained 170 health workers, 55 doctors and midwives
on maternal and child healthcare in the past few months. It has also
distributed 129 reproductive health kits, comprising 1,413 cartons of
assorted family planning commodities, and given priority to health
facilities in the state.

The UNFPA also said it has also provided 32,600 dignity kits to rural women,
especially young girls to restore their dignity. It said a total of
7,297 victims of Boko Haram were given psycho-social counseling as well
as skills acquisition and empowerment.

Source: Ikeji L

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