As normalcy returns to the insurgent ridden Northeastern part of the country, the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima has momentarily relocated his office to Bama.
Governor Shettima moved to Bama, a town once ravaged by Boko Haram as reconstruction of the communities begins.
He said the seat of power will remain in Bama pending the time he finished the monitoring of the reconstruction work.
“My office is now here, I decided to relocate here to live here and supervise reconstruction works. I will administer Borno State from here.
“I am fully prepared to be here for days to come, one week, two weeks or even more.
“I will not leave until we are able to rebuild a good number of private houses, municipal buildings, markets, schools and clinics. I want the reconstruction work to take proper shape before I leave.
“We cannot wait till forever before we reclaim our destiny. Bama is one of the worst affected areas and we will move from here to other parts of the state,” he said.
“While I am here, we have a full structure of Government in place operating in Maiduguri so that activities of managing IDP’S, civil service, implementation of government policies and programmes will continue while I am here. I will be in constant touch with Maiduguri, I came prepared,” he added.
Commenting on the governor’s decision to relocate to Bama, the spokesperson of the governor Isa Gusau, stated that “insurgents had attacked the town killing dozens, destroyed more than 80 per cent of the thousands of houses in the town, sacked the Emir and took over his palace after declaring it as sovereign territory with set of laws and‘constitutional’ leader.
“The military toppled the insurgents and recovered the area by the end of 2015, months after President Muhammadu Buhari took over affairs”.
“The Governor departed Maiduguri at about 12:10 p.m. and arrived Bama at about 2:18 p.m. and he went straight to supervising reconstruction works on private residential houses, police stations, stores, schools, hospitals, the Emirs palace among others,” he affirmed.
“The Governor had deployed construction equipment and hundreds of trucks of variety of building materials which are already in Bama for the reconstruction works.”
The spokesperson said the governor did not embark on the trip to Bama without providing enough security to safe guard his life and that of those deployed to commence the reconstruction work in the ancient city.
Gusau added that “the governor also commissioned 500 newly recruited civilian JTF and vigilantes employed from locals in Bama to use community intelligence in working with the military to strengthen security in the area so as to forestall unanticipated attacks”.
In his remark, the Commissioner for Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Babagana Zulum, declared that the reconstruction activities have created nearly 1000 direct jobs beside stimulating the economy of the state through procurements of different building materials and payment for services.
Zulum said the governor was “bound to see new developments every day,” he goes out for inspection.
However, should Mr. Shettima’s resolve to stay in Bama for one or two weeks be followed to the latter, the road to Bama could be the busiest in the next few days as government officials who need his attention would have to visit him there.