In a bid to mitigate hardship facing deceased Civilian Joint Task Force volunteers’ children, the Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has approved scholarship for orphans of hunters, and vigilantes killed at battlefronts while fighting Boko Haram terrorists during the last seven years.
This is coming as he also flagged off welfare package of N50,000 for the deceased widows respectively, distribution of N180m, 27,000 bags and cartons of food staples to 9,000 volunteers.
The Governor said that the gesture had become imperative in appreciating the volunteers who died for the causes of saving humanity, particularly Borno State from muderous agents, including Boko Haram and other bandits.
Announcing the interventions yesterday in Maiduguri while addressing a gathering of about 9,000 volunteers who have been fighting alongside the Nigerian armed forces to contain insurgency across the state, Zulum regretted that the vulunteers died without salaries, pension and gratuities from the government.
According to him, the greatest miracle that has emanated from Borno State within the last ten years, is the emergence of the Civilian JTF back in 2013, and the coming of more volunteers from hunters and vigilantes, all of whom have devoted their lives to fearlessly and patriotically fight side by side with soldiers and other armed forces, in the battle for Borno’s liberation from Boko Haram.
“In the last seven years, we have recorded instances in which volunteers in the civilian JTF have intercepted suicide attackers and in the process lost their lives. We have recorded more instances of many killed in major battles after they also succeeded in our shared victories over Boko Haram at different encounters. I will not mention names, but there are records of warriors in the Civilian JTF, hunters and vigilantes from Southern, to Northern and Central Borno, who fought so hard and gave their lives fighting for Borno.
“It is my honour to hereby announce that Borno State Government will award education scholarship to the most vulnerable orphans of Civilian JTF who have been killed at battle fronts. This scholarship will be awarded in phases, starting with the youngest and most vulnerable families of the earliest fallen volunteers, down to the most recently killed.
“I will, insha Allah, constitute a multi-stakeholder committee which shall thoroughly evaluate vulnerabilities, come up with a list of children to benefit in the first phase, recommend schools, and develop a feasible and sustainable structure of the scholarship. The committee will be tasked with securing admissions, uniforms, fees and monitoring the academic progress of the children. The parents of these children died fighting for all of us, the people of Borno State, the very least we can do is work towards the future of their children,’’ he said.
