Boko Haram: President Buhari Enlists UN Support In Rehabilitation Of IDPs Destroyed Infrastructure
BY AMOS DUNIA, ABUJA – President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said that the condition of Internally Displaced Persons ((IDPs) in the country is pathetic thus requested the assistance of United Nations and the international community in reversing the devastation visited on Nigeria by the Boko Haram insurgency.
President Buhari, who stated this when he received in audienc3e the visiting President of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), Ms Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, also said that Nigeria has at least a million children who neither know their parents, nor where they come from.
He added that damage to infrastructure, particularly in the North-east, has been horrendous, saying; “Bridges have been blown up, schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, and other buildings have been destroyed. All these will be rehabilitated, and every form of international help is welcome.”
Commenting on the recharge of Lake Chad through inter-basin water transfer from Congo River, Buhari said climate change was quite real to the region, noting that no fewer than 30 million people are negatively affected by the shrinking lake, with at least half of them being Nigerians.
He stressed the role the international community needed to play in the endeavour, since recharging the lake was beyond the financial power of the affected countries.
In her remarks, the UNGA President Ms Garces commended Nigeria for being a key part of the United Nations system, saying the country was well respected in the global body.
According to her; “Nigeria is a major troops’ contributor to peace keeping operations, and a major part of the human rights architecture.”
She commended President Buhari’s leadership of ECOWAS, and of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, pledging to call the attention of the international community to the “hurting effects” of the Lake Chad problem, and other issues raised by the Nigerian leader.
The UNGA President also lauded Nigeria for rehabilitating the UN building in Abuja, which was destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents during an attack in August, 2011.
