By Godwin Ihuwe
By every standard of evaluation, it would not be wrong to admit that the reappointment of Mohammed Goni Alkali as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the North East Development Commission by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was an appreciable step towards putting Nigeria on the right path.
For millions of Nigerians, particularly victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, the reappointment of the pioneer Managing Director of the commission for another five-year tenure signifies a clutch on renewed hope and consolidation. This is so because, in the last five years, through dint of hard work, and commitment to serve the vulnerable and displaced, Alkali has imprinted his name on the sand of time as an exemplary administrator and technocrat.
Established on the 27 of October 2017, the North East Development Commission NEDC is mandated to assess, coordinate, harmonize, and report intervention programs and initiatives by the Federal Government, state governments, and other development partners for the North East states of Adamawa, Taraba, Borno, Bauchi, Gombe, and Yobe. In less than five years after its establishment, the commission has many achievements to showcase in the areas of social infrastructure, Education, health, rural roads, and partnership with local and international agencies. This laudable feat wouldn’t have been possible but the commitment and unflinching dedication of Mohammed Goni Alkali.
The people-centered initiatives and programs of the commission had over time seen the stabilization of millions of individuals and families who were displaced by the devastating activities of terrorist groups in the North East. Known for his forthrightness and compassion, Alhaji Alkali is said to have used his pedigree in the private sector to reinvent the economy of the North East states.
What drives his philosophy are basic issues that bother humanity and genuine prospects for prosperity. No wonder, a recent appraisal by The Network for Good Governance in Nigeria applauded him and the commission for what the Executive Director, Mr. Adam Abu described as an extraordinary contribution to the development of the region.
Aside from resettlement, rehabilitation, integration, and reconstruction, the Alkali management has effectively tackled the menace of poverty, illiteracy and ecological challenges in the North East. Barring all odds, Alhaji Mohammed Goni Alkali has shown that he is a core humanist with a heart of gold, and this innate quality was particularly evident in his drive to provide quality education to the low literacy and high poverty prevalent across the region.
The destruction of schools, especially where they have not been rehabilitated throughout the decade of insurgency, resulted in the truncation of the education of primary and secondary school students. An estimated 600,000 young people were unable to go beyond the primary or secondary School levels. As such, millions of out-of-school in the region remain uneducated, justifying the concern as well as the subsequent interventions of the Alhaji Mohammed Goni Commission in education.
Indeed, Alkali has demonstrated love for humanity in all ramifications. His initiatives as the chief driver of the NEDC mandate have been people-centered, targeting the vulnerable and depressed within the Northeast region. Without mincing words, his reappointment represents the future for the development of the North East region.
Highly passionate about the plight of the victims of insurgency, Mohammed Goni Alkali is not at home with pretense and never engages in double speak. One profound quality that speaks volumes of him is the power to persuade and inspire others to the heights they might have thought unattainable he is honest in all he does and has left no one in doubt since he assumed office in 2017 that his goal was to achieve the mandate of the NEDC.