From Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
The Northeast Development Commission has held a State-level engagement and consultative meeting with Bauchi State Stakeholders on the North-East Stabilisation and Development Masterplan, which will contain programmes and schemes that will promote, facilitate the physical and socio-economic development of the Zone.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the NEDC, Mr. Mohammed G. Alkali, said told the stakeholders at Command Gyest in Bauchi that “the North-East Stabilisation and Development Masterplan would estimate the time and costs of implementing programmes and schemes in the zone”.
He said the NEDC Act requires the Commission to develop a Master Plan based on the needs assessment of the zone to achieve the aim of its establishment.
“In order to come up with a robust Regional Master Plan, we consider consultations with State Stakeholders as very pertinent towards producing a credible and comprehensive roadmap for recovery and sustainable socio-economic development of the North East,”
Represented by acting Bauchi State Coordinator of the Commission, Ibrahim Bashir, the Managing Director called for positive contributions from the Bauchi stakeholders for effective implementation of the proposed master plan.
He said the joint Consultative Meeting was with all representative groups of Stakeholders in the State Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Legislature, Judiciary, Local Governments Areas Officials, Security Agencies, Traditional and Religious Leaders, Private Sector, among others.
Alkali said the meeting would be followed by the finalisation of a Draft Master Plan, which would eventually be presented for validation.
“The essence of having these diverse Stakeholders under one roof here, therefore, is to harness their individual and collective inputs to enrich the process and align with inclusiveness and bottom-up policy of NEDC,”
He said the proposed 10-year NESDMP consisted of 10 Pillars and would encompass the relevant aspects of the Development Plans & Policies of the Gombe State Government and those of other Partners.
Alkali said the progress made so far in the Master Plan Project during the meeting will be presented to Stakeholders and their inputs solicited for inclusion in the Plan.
Discussions during the technical session were expected to focus on Schemes, Programmes and Projects that should be included in the Master Plan to alleviate poverty and create prosperity in Gombe State and the North East Zone.
Other discussions will be on the concerns regarding the implementation of the Master Plan when completed, including its adaptability and funding windows, as well as strategies to be adapted to ensure purposeful collaboration, cooperation, coordination and effective integration between NEDC, Bauchi State and other Partners.
Speaking on the impact of NEDC’s interventions in Bauchi, the state governor, Bala Mohammed appreciated the Commission for embarking on the construction of 500 mass housing project, distribution of food and non-food items as well as rapid intervention in the construction of primary schools across the state.
Represented by his Special Adviser on General Services, Hashimu Yakubu, the governor assured that, his administration will continue to partner with the Commission in its developmental activities in the state.
“I congratulate the NEDC for organizing this important occasion, which is bound to deepen stake-holding, and indeed ownership, of the projects and programmes of the Commission in the North-East sub-region. I hope this will afford NEDC the opportunity with the stakeholders to brainstorm towards formulating a North-East Stabilization Development Master Plan that would be accepted by all.”
Recalled that the NEDC was established by President Muhammadu Buhari as a direct response to the devastation and violence caused by insurgency in the North-East Zone, charged with the responsibility to recover, stabilise and develop the region, among others.
