Okonjo-Iweala, Gordon Brown Visit Destroyed Borno Schools, Promise Support

Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala yesterday paid a historic visit to Maiduguri, Borno State capital, alongside a team of representatives of the former British Prime Minister, Mr Gordon Brown.

Okonjo-Iweala and Brown’s representatives were in the troubled state capital to inspect schools affected by the Boko Haram insurgency with a view to launching the Safe Schools Initiative which would be backed by the federal government of Nigeria and Gordon Brown who is the UN Special Envoy on Education.

The finance minister, who was visiting the state for the first time ever, arrived in Maiduguri at about 10am on a chattered aircraft together with the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima and two members of Gordon Brown’s team, as well as the director-general of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi.

Borno State governor personally took over the wheel and drove the finance minister round the town in his official bullet-proof car amidst tight security.

Dr Iweala’s first port of call was a refugee camp for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) where she commiserated with the over 4000 IDPs and handed out relief materials comprising of bags of rice, beddings, toiletries and buckets.

She assured the displaced men and women as well as children of the commitment of the federal government towards seeing that peace returns to the state and also in helping them return back to their homes.

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