Boko Haram: FG begins reconstruction of schools, police stations in North East

SECRETARY to the Govern­ment of the Federation (SGF), David Babachir Lawal, yes­terday, said the Federal Gov­ernment has commenced re­construction of schools and police stations destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents in the North East.
Lawal made this known in Hong, Adamawa State, during the graduation of 500 students trained by Buba Industrial Vil­lage.
The training was part of the Youth Empowerment Pro­gramme introduced by Yusuf Buba, the member represent­ing Gombi /Hong Federal Constituency.
He said reconstruction of the region was part of the electoral campaign promises of President Muhammadu Bu­hari.
The SGF stressed that the aim was to bring lasting solu­tion to insurgency and rebuild destroyed infrastructures in the region.
“The Federal Government has begun reconstruction of schools and police stations among other facilities de­stroyed by Boko Haram insur­gents in the North East region.
“The present APC – led government is determined to guarantee peaceful co-existence among Nigerians and ensure that citizens, ir­respective of their ethnicity or religion, benefit from the dividends of democracy,” said Lawal.
Meanwhile, the Nige­rian Air Force (NAF) has an­nounced plans to deploy more men in its counter-insurgency operations in the North east.
Chief of Air Staff, Sadiq Abubakar stated this on a visit to military formations and tra­ditional institutions in Borno State where he announced that “the Nigerian Air Force is ex­ploring the possibility of ex­panding the Air Force troops in the North-East to ensure to­tal restoration of peace in the shortest time possible.”
He also explained that “with the planned expan­sions, more personnel will be deployed and more plat­forms created to widen our operations towards timely and speedy response in counter-insurgency campaigns.
“We are already widening the roles of our regiments as special combat forces to se­cure and protect key points after successful operations.”
Abubakar’s pledge is com­ing on the heels of successes recorded by the Air Force in its ongoing fight against Boko Haram.
An Unmanned combat Aerial Vehicle (UAV) belong­ing to the force, recently de­stroyed a logistics base used by Boko Haram.
The Air Force said the UAV was on intelligence, sur­veillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission when it came across the gathering of Boko Haram terrorists at Garin Moloma, about one kilometre north of the Sambisa Forest, a Boko Haram enclave.
The need for additional platforms by the Nigerian Air Force also occurs in the light of recent crashes experienced by the service.
Last year, an aircraft be­longing to the Air Force crashed in Yola, the capital of Adamawa State.
The jet was returning from an operation in Borno State when it reportedly encoun­tered bad weather and crashed, killing the pilot.
Also, an Mi-35 Helicopter, belonging to the Air Force, crashed in 2014 while on a training mission Borno State.
The chopper reportedly crashed due to technical fault at a location south of Bama town.
The Air Force also lost two other helicopters in three days in Adamawa state in 2014.
Both choppers went down while on surveillance mission at Damare, a suburb of Girei local government in the state.
Despite the setbacks, the Nigerian Air Force recently announced that its patrol and surveillance activities had succeeded in blocking routes through which petroleum products and other materials were supplied to the extremist Boko Haram sect.
It said patrols along the Nigeria-Cameroon borders “have greatly strained the sup­ply efforts of the BHT (Boko Haram terrorists).”