- L-R: Gen Tarfa, Gov Muhammed, Dr Alkali*
The Chairman of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Maj. Gen. Paul Tarfa (retd), has declared the readiness of the Commission to reduce the rate of illiteracy and poverty in Bauchi State.
Tarfa made this known in Bauchi, on Saturday when delegates of the Commission, including Dr Mohammed Goni Alkali – MD/CEO, paid a courtesy call on Governor Bala Muhammed at the Government House.
He explained that NEDC has the mandate to manage funds allocated to states affected by insurgency for the resettlement, rehabilitation, integration, and construction of roads and houses of the victims.
He noted that the Northeast needed to curtail the menace of poverty, illiteracy, ecological problems and other environmental setbacks in the region.
Tarfa described the state as the haven and host of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), promising that the Commission would establish an office in the state to work with the state government by keying into its projects of economic development and empowerment.
Governor Bala, in his remarks, pledged to synergise with the Commission to fight the challenges affecting the economy of the zone.
He, however, attributed the high rate of out-of-school children and poverty in the state to the accommodation of a large number of IDPs who had been integrated into society.
The Governor pleaded with the Commission to consider the state in its development plans for the welfare of the people affected by the insurgency in the state.
“With the establishment of the North East Development Commission, the challenges militating against the progress of the zone would be addressed,” he said.