A few days ago, President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the North East Development Commission bill, a commission with the mandate to receive and manage funds allocated by the federal government and international donor agencies for the resettlement, rehabilitation, integration and reconstruction of roads, houses and business premises of the victims of insurgency. It also seeks to deal with the rising poverty in the region and environmental challenges. If the North East had made any progress since the return to democracy in 1999, the terror unleashed by Boko Haram in the last few years has reversed it by several decades. Schools, hospitals, farms, public infrastructures, have been utterly destroyed in their thousands, leaving millions of innocent women and children at the brink of starvation.

It is therefore of utmost importance, that this commission is driven by men and women of impeccable integrity, who are not only sympathetic to the plight of these victims but have a strong grasp of the broad and fundamental issues feeding the vicious cycle of insurgency in the region and are capable of formulating a short, medium and long-term strategy that will ensure peace and prosperity. The President and leadership of the national assembly must look beyond an opportunity to reward party faithful or creating another ‘job for the boys’ in the composition of the board of the NEDC, knowing that the failure of this commission will have far reaching implications for the peace and stability of the entire country.

Here is why:

On the 4th of October, four American soldiers, alongside four Nigerien soldiers, were ambushed and killed in Tongo-Tongo, a village near the Niger–Mali border by a terrorist group believed to be commanded by Abu Adnan Al-Sahraoui, a former member of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) who joined ISIS. Worse is, since the dislodgement of ISIS from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, where they once controlled territories, ISIL fighters have been embraced by terrorist groups in Mali, Libya, Chad and Niger. Little wonder the United states now has about 6000 troops stationed in Africa and president Donald Trump plans to increase this number. We must realize that hundreds of ISIS fighters are only a few hundred kilometers away from the north-eastern borders of our country, and with the sudden surge of attacks by Boko Haram—where about 400 people have been killed in the last 6 months—we must begin to assume the worst.

I have always argued that the war against terrorism in the North cannot, in itself, be defeated by tanks and boots but by broader strategic measures that addresses the hostile climatic condition and consequently the prevalent poverty in the region. This is why I have a keen and genuine interest in the North-East Development Commission.

The truth is persistent droughts in the Sahel region (Senegal, Mali, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and to a great extent the North East), instigated by extreme weather conditions has placed close to 18 million of these people in a potential food crisis (about 5 million in Nigeria). Over 80% of the region’s land is degraded, frustrating farmers and providing little land, if any, for cattle to graze whereas there is a huge population growth. In other words, while population increases, the availability of food crops grossly diminishes. This also explains why we have herdsmen from Mali in Nigeria seeking for grazing land.

These factors: over population, land degradation, reduced rainfall and a lack of coherent environmental policies have left the people miserably poor making them very easy and willing recruits for terrorists who give them a few dollars to enlist them in their organizations. Of the 187 countries ranked globally in terms of human development index, Burkina Faso ranks 181, Chad 183, Mali 175 and Niger 186 making them the poorest region in sub-Saharan Africa and the world at large. Mind you, if the North East was a country on its own it will be ranked 180 0ut of 187. It is this level of extreme poverty and porous borders that has given rise to the proliferation of terrorist organizations like Boko Haram, Defenders of Islam group linked to Iyad Ag Ghali in Northern Mali, The Movement for the Liberation of Macina led by Hamadoun Koufa in central Mali. Ansarul Islam in northern Burkinafaso and Al Mourabitoun group led by Moktar Belmokhtar operating in the vast Sahel region.

It is either the NEDC lives up to expectation by addressing the issues of poverty and climate change in the North-East of Nigeria or watch the region and soon the entire country consumed by terrorism.

Ayodele Adio is co-host of a Lagos radio programme.

Source: https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2017/11/01/why-the-north-east-development-commission-must-succeed-by-ayodele-adio/

Front page: Lalasticlala

Anyway I personally dont believe in top down development. These type of agencies dont do too much see N.D.D.C and its predecessor agencies. What I wonder is what measuring stick of success is and will this organization be round forever as a staple. The government has inaugurated the commission but what exactly is the road map to get the region back to maximum productivity. I have some slight idea of how I would try get the region to bounce back. The major focus would be mining, agriculture and services. The security situation is a mess so a permanent military base in area is necessary.

A very thoughtful editorial! For me, what stands out above all in the article is the issue of uncontrolled population growth, which would make it ever more difficult to sustain a reasonable standard of living in the region even if climate change and desertification weren't factors to consider. It is simply unreasonable to expect decent living standards in a population which is growing at an exponential rate, let alone the kind of economic development that can take a country from "poor" to "middle income" status or higher - no country in history has achieved such a thing without at least the safety valve of massive emigration, but where exactly would the northeast's surplus population migrate to, in a country already as densely populated as Nigeria, with all its existing ethnic tensions? What meaningful employment could they hope to find wherever they do emigrate to, given their lack of education or skills that are desirable in a modern economy?

The results of the discontent we are seeing in the northeast are a harbinger of what is to come for the rest of the north if Nigeria continues on its current path of mediocre economic growth coupled with an unrestrained population increase. Unfortunately, both the radical economic/political reforms required for faster growth, and effective family management programs to rein in population growth, are vehemently opposed by the political elite of the north, the very part of the country that needs the benefits of such measures the most. This is the biggest reason why I am pessimistic about the future of Nigeria as a single nation: no union built on the least developed part having veto power over all political measures, and choosing to abuse such power to merely sustain a parasitical system of government, can hope to last in the long term. Eventually the wealthier and more educated parts of the country will say "Enough!" and that will be the end of Nigeria as a unified political entity.

Blue3k:
Anyway I personally dont believe in top down development. These type of agencies dont do too much see N.D.D.C and its predecessor agencies. What I wonder is what measuring stick of success is and will this organization be round forever as a staple. The government has inaugurated the commission but what exactly is the road map to get the region back to maximum productivity. I have some slight idea of how I would try get the region to bounce back. The major focus would be mining, agriculture and services. The security situation is a mess so a permanent military base in area is necessary.

Your cynicism is thoroughly justified, especially in the Nigerian context, where we've already seen so many reports of food aid being stolen from starving villagers, and a close aide of Buhari has been implicated in a bogus grass-cutting scandal. It's not as if there are any examples of successful, scandal-free commissions of this sort in Nigerian history, so why should things change now? All that will happen is a few well-connected Northerners getting rich through fraudulent, inflated contracts and the like ...

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Easiest way to steal our VAT and oil money to a region that think the terrorist is done with them. Boko Haram is the 2nd deadliest terrorist group in the universe.

Restructuring and not the NEDC remains the only way out for the NE especially. If Nigeria is restructured and every zone is allowed to develop at their own pace, trust me, the thieving political elites who are already waiting for the NEDC to kick off properly and create another avenue for them to line their pockets would either think twice or at least tone down their thieving tendencies knowing full well that they are closer and within reach of the people they rule and therefore have no hiding place when they misbehave. The attendant healthy competition that would follow restructuring would also be a morale booster for them. May be.

With the general discontent in the south currently, a bogus annual budget to fund the NEDC would be vehemently resisted.

The northern elites had all the opportunities to educate and liberate their peoples from mental slavery but choose to either build more mosques than schools while carting away their riches to Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Europe to develop those economies.