United Nations, UN and Borno State Government, yesterday decried the devastating effect of insecurity, especially Boko Haram insurgency on Nigeria, saying it had undermined Nigeria’s economic growth and development.
They spoke at the 20th Joint Planning Board (JPB) National Council on Development Planning, NCDP, meeting held at the Government House, Maiduguri.
Speaking, Secretary to the Borno State Government, SSG, Usman Shuwa, lamented that insecurity had varied devastating effects on the socio-economic and political landscape of the country.
While declaring the summit with the theme: “Managing the Nigerian Economy for Sustainable Development in a Challenging Environment,” open, Shuwa said: “The most daunting of these challenges, is the issue of insecurity characterized by the unending Boko Haram insurgency.”
According to him, the security challenges included criminal activities of banditry and kidnapping as well as the socio-economic threats to business outfits, attributing the socio-economic threats in the state to unemployment, poverty and youths restiveness.
He said: “the negative effects of insecurity are widespread with adverse effects of stifling economic growth and development. Insecurity has devastated the economic livelihood of our people at the local level in farming and commercial activities among others. Insecurity has to be overcome for any strategic plans to have impacts on the socio-economic development of the country.”
On his part, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, represented by Miss Esty Sutyoko, reiterated that “4.4 million persons in the Northeast are facing acute hunger at the peak of lean season, as well as into the rainy season.”
