The Federal Government on Sunday disclosed that it had approved a five year special interventional program that would enable it speed up the socio-economic development of states in the North-East Region.
The North-East comprises of Adamawa, Yobe, Gombe, Borno, Bauchi and Taraba States.
The minister of state for finance, Dr Yerima Ngama disclosed this during a chat with journalists in Abuja.
President Goodluck Jonathan had earlier this month during the North-East Economic Summit hosted by Gombe State, acknowledged that insecurity had adversely affected the socio-economic development of the region and promised to do all within his powers and abilities to end the security problems and assist the region to productively harness its abundant resources once again for the benefit of its people and all other Nigerians.
The North-East, particularly Yobe and Borno states have been the hot bed of Boko Haram activities with increasing violent attacks leading to the declaration of a state of emergency in the two states and Adamawa last May by the president.
The move had virtually paralyzed economic activities in the region and slowed federal developmental projects being implemented in the affected states.
As a first step towards injecting life back to socio-economic activities in the region, the minister said the sum of N2bn had been set aside in the 2014 budget for the affected states.
The N2bn, he noted, would be used to alleviate the sufferings of people in the states.
This, according to Ngama, would be achieved by giving grants to poor women and youth for the acquisition of working equipment.
The minister added that while the federal government is working hard to restore peace to the region, the intervention would help alleviate poverty among the people.
