The Federal Government on Saturday in Calabar donated 10 fishing boats with outboard engines and nets to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Bakassi in Cross River.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the donation was made by the Border Communities Development Agency (BCDA).
Mr Numoipire Wills, the Executive Secretary of BCDA, said the gesture was part of government-assisted poverty alleviation programme in border communities across the country.
He said: “We have come here to present 10 boats with outboard engines each, as well as nets as part of our youth empowerment programme.
“In the Bakassi area, we are building security posts, markets, health facilities, schools. We are singling out Bakassi, because it is one of the areas where we have returnees like we have in Kebbi state.
“There are other government assisted programmes laid out for farming activities by government for the area.”
Also speaking , the South-South Vice Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Ntufam Eta, expressed appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari and BCDA for the gesture.
He said: “This is a positive gesture in the right direction. The Bakassi people are primarily fishermen and also militancy in the area has affected their livelihood.
“I want to use this opportunity to thank the military for clearing the Bakassi area of militants; this will enable the people put the boats to use.
“Our people are appreciative of this gesture and will do well to put it to use to create an economy that is almost absent at the moment.
“I do know there are many of these kinds of plans for the people of the rural communities in Nigeria and that in the nearest future these plans would become manifest. (NAN)