TheCable

The Japanese government on Monday announced a donation of three million dollars in support of victims of Boko Haram insurgency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

This was disclosed by Sadanabu Kusaoke, the Japanese ambassador to Nigeria, less than 48 hours after Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest man made similar donation of $1m.

Kusaake said that the money and a project launched in Maiduguri was aimed at assisting the victims to engage in gainful activities like farming and trading for social stability.

“The Japanese government has decided to support the project for early recovery and social cohesion in the North-East of Nigeria with a 3 million dollars donation,” he said.

“This is to help people who engage in gainful activities like farming and trading to contribute to the social stabilisation and recovery of the affected communities in the three states.

Kusaoke said that the project would concentrate on women, youths and other vulnerable groups in the communities.

“Priority is on women, youth and other vulnerable people. The project is expected to create safe environment for the returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as well as reduce pressure on migration to neighboring countries.”

Kusaoke said the project would also involved support for UNDP programme of de-radicalisation of former militants in the states.

“We have also decided to fund the UNDP project on de-radicalisation and also to increase the capacity of security agents in investigations and prosecution as well as preventing and controlling migration.”

The envoy commended the Borno state government for its multi-facet approach in addressing the problems of insurgency in the state.

“We commend the state government for its comprehensive approach in dealing with the insurgency problems,” Kusaoke said.

“We also commend the federal government for its support to the military to end the Boko Haram crisis,” he added.

Kashim Shettima, Borno state governor, thanked the Japanese government for the gesture and urged other donors to emulate the gesture by providing similar assistance to victims of insurgency.