The North-East Development Commission has a new Board and management team in place, as directed by President Muhammadu Buhari to prevent a leadership vacuum that could disrupt the commission’s operations in the North-East region plagued by terror.
The tenure of the previous Board led by Maj-Gen Paul Tarfa had expired, and the President directed the new Board to assume their duties immediately.
The newly appointed Acting MD/CEO, Umar Abubakar Hashidu, expressed gratitude to President Buhari for entrusting them with the responsibility of running the commission during this critical time of recovery from the ravages of Boko Haram in the North-East.
The new Board comprises Bukar Baale as Acting Board Chairman and 10 other members of the Governing Board, including Suwaiba Idris Baba as Executive Director for Humanitarian Affairs (North East, Taraba), Musa Umar Yashi as Executive Director for Administration and Finance (North East, Bauchi), Dr Ismaila Nuhu Maksha as Executive Director for Operations (North East, Adamawa), and Umar Abubakar Hashidu as MD/CEO (North East, Gombe).
Onyeka Gospel-Tony serves as a member from the South East, while Hon. Mrs Hailmary Ogolo Aipoh is a member from the South-South region; Hon. Mrs Hailmary Ogolo Aipoh, Member, (South-South), Air Commodore Babatunde Akanbi (rtd), Member, (South West), Mustapha Ahmed Ibrahim, Member, (North West), Hadiza Maina, Member, (North Central) Alhaji Grema Ali, Member (North East) and a representative from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Hashidu praised the National Assembly and North-East governors for their unwavering support of the commission and promised that the new management would meet expectations when confirmed.
This change in leadership is crucial for the commission’s continued efforts to rebuild and develop the North-East region.
The tenure of the outgoing Managing Director of the North East Development Commission (NEDC), Mohammed Goni Alkali, has come to an end, and it’s remarkable how time flies.
Mr Alkali and his team of board members will on Sunday, March 8, 2023 serve their last as the highest decision making officials of the Commission.
Although expected, Alkali’s exit felt sudden, as his tenure was a mixed bag.
During his time, the agency made significant strides in addressing the humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East region of Nigeria.
Observers agree that the new commission made massive strides over the past four years.
While the agency made significant strides, criticisms of mismanagement and corruption have also been raised at some points. . However, none of these allegations have been verified with concrete evidence.”
As the new board takes over, Nigerians will be looking for a leadership team that is committed to transparency and accountability, building on the gains made by the outgoing MD, and ensuring sustainable development and peace in the region.
The success of the new board of the NEDC will be judged on its ability to deliver on these expectations.
The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has distributed 276,700 textbooks and exercise books to orphanage schools and centers in Borno and Yobe states.
The NEDC reported that the 3,910 pupils from the nine schools and centers were orphaned during the 13-year Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast.
The commission’s Borno State Coordinator, Mohammed Umaru, said the NEDC also supported three other foundations with 950 blankets and mats, 700 wrappers, and Shadda clothes.
The Northeast Development Commision (NEDC), has on Monday, Jan.23 began a two weeks training for public school teachers in the six states of the northeast zone of Nigeria.
The training is part of de commission’s agenda to rekindle learning in public schools that have been destroyed by the years of armed conflict in the region.
The training programme was being funded by Education Endowment Fund (EEF) unit of the NEDC.
The board chairman of NEDC-EEF, Asma’u Mohammed, informed that 1,800 teachers had been trained in the first phase, and another 1,800 are to be trained in the second phase for two weeks.
Hajia Asma’u also disclosed further that the Board and Management of the Commission have developed and completed the implementation of other programmes to address critical needs like “Provision of classrooms, desks and essential learning materials to support the resuscitation of the comfortable learning environment at the basic educational level, in each of the 112 Local Government Areas of the North East, and a Phase 2 of the project is about to commence.
Hajiya Asma’u Mai Ake Mohammed, NEDC-EEF Board Chairman speaking at the opening of the training.
“In the first phase of our teacher training, 1800 teachers (300 per State) were trained over a one-week period,” she said.
Hajiya Asma’u said stemming from the feedback received, and lessons learnt from the appraisal of the first outing, the duration of the training has been increased to two weeks with more emphasis on core subject areas.
“Additionally, to ensure more attention on teachers, we limited the slots for administrative staff to only 15 each for the Primary and Junior Secondary School segments.
“To guarantee value for money, we have enshrined 13 cardinal points, ranging from quality of training manuals, method of delivery, and strict monitoring of attendance of the participants, amongst others. Upon this, our consultants will be assessed to determine their effectiveness and prospects for future engagement by us.
“This will surely complement the NEDC and in no distant future immensely contribute towards achieving the strategic objectives of the Commission.”
The facilitating firm for the training of the 300 teachers in Borno state, LIMO Holdings, Nigeria Limited, said the participants are to be trained in Borno state for two weeks.
The CEO of LIMO Holdings, Dr Lawan Bukar Alhaji, noted that the exact number of participants are spread across the other five states of the subregion.
The Managing Director and CEO of NEDC, Goni Alkali, who declared the workshop open, was represented by a General Manager at the Commission, Saadatu Shehu.
The MD said, “the two weeks training was in line with the Commission’s core mandate, which is to tackle all manners of illiteracy in the northeast in its quest to achieve enhanced human capacity and capital development in the region through scholarships.”
Officials during the opening of the training. Photo by: NEDC
“As earlier mentioned, short term capacity building improvement of basic education has been the reason the EEF was created under the humanitarian directory to ensure excellent learning and teaching in our educational institutions.
“The two weeks capacity building for the teachers is an intervention strategy, and it is expected that the teachers will be motivated for self-efficacy and performances.”
The EEF Board of Trustees was inaugurated on the 7th of August 2020 as a specialised body that could fast-track NEDC’s intervention in the education sub-sector in the North East Geo-political zone, which has been ravaged by the over a decade-old Boko Haram insurgency.
According to a report by The Humanitarian Times, the 13-year-old armed conflict in the northeast has claimed the lives of well over 2,295 teachers and destroyed more than 1,400 classrooms across the northeast region.
This attack on the public education system has adversely impacted both the quality of learning and diminished access to education in the northeast.
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