Baga IDPs eager to return home, says Borno LG boss

Internally Displaced Persons from Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State have expressed eagerness to return to their communities, even before the state government finishes the ongoing reconstruction of their homes destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents.
The Caretaker Committee Chairman of the council, Alhaji Habib Ali Kekeno, disclosed this in an exclusive chat with The Point in Maiduguri.
Kekeno said transporting the IDPs back home would go a long way in resuscitating the once buoyant commercial activities in the area, which was crippled by insurgency.
He said, “My people (IDPs) are willing and ready to go back home; they insist that rebuilding their houses will not be problem. As long as the military will reopen the Monguno – Baga Road, nothing can stop them from going back home. They are tired of being idle at the IDPs camp, when many resources are lying wasted in their area.”
The council chairman noted that he had met with the troops in charge of the Kukawa and Baga area and, “We have agree that there’s need for us to clear both sides of the roads to allow motorists. “Now that the insurgency is over, the military should speed up the re-opening of the Monguno -Cross Kauwa – Baga Doro – Cross Kauwa and Kukawa road for commercial activities to return to the area.”
Kekeno explained that about 8,000 local residents were currently in Baga engaged in farming and fishing, adding, “Some usually come to Monguno to purchase food items without any interruption on the road.
“Normalcy has also been restored in Baga and they are fully prepared to return. People often walk from Baga to Monguno, which is about 42 kilometers, to sell and buy.
“It is hard to believe Baga used to be a lively trading center of over 200,000 people coming from across the country, where merchants would travel to sell smoked fish, cow, leather goods and trade fresh produce.”