Lawmaker representing Borno South, Senator Ali Ndume, has asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to include special presidential projects for the North East region in the 2025 supplementary budget and the 2026 budget proposals.
The senator, in a statement he personally signed on Friday in Abuja, said doing so would address the crippling social infrastructural challenge bedeviling the region.
Daily Trust reports that special presidential projects are major initiatives or large-scale infrastructure and policy reforms overseen and championed by a country’s president.
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Recall that for the past 15 years, the Boko Haram insurgents have been waging war against the North East region, destroying pubic infrastructure including schools, hospitals, roads, police and military formations, churches and mosques among others.
The insurgents have also killed thousands of residents, displaced several others, thus, crippling socio-economic activities and causing humanitarian crisis in the zone.
Nigerians have witnessed the abduction of several innocent citizens including school children in the region following the activities of the insurgents, despite efforts by successive governments to address the crisis.
Ndume said, “Fifteen years down the line, there hasn’t been any meaningful infrastructural development in the North East as it has been ravaged by the insurgents.
“In view of this, I suggest that the present administration should give priority to the region and make provision for its urgent infrastructural needs in the 2025 supplementary budget.
“Now that insurgents have receded as a results of efforts by our military who have regained lost grounds, contractors can now move to sites.”
The lawmaker also urged the six governors in the North East region not to relent in promoting concrete initiatives that would make live better and meaningful to the citizens.
Recall that the governors had on Wednesday met with President Tinubu in Abuja as part of efforts to address the challenges in the region.