*Yahaya laments 75,000 refugees’ burden.

NO fewer than 75,000 persons are currently seeking refuge in Gombe State due to insurgency in the North-East, which has lasted for 12 years.

Making this assertion on Wednesday, Governor Muhammadu Yahaya said the state at the centre of the region bore the burden of security challenges in other states.

Yahaya stated this in his address while inaugurating 500 housing units on behalf of North-East Development Commission and the graduation of Batch ‘B’ ICT training beneficiaries and handing over of food and non-food items donated by the commission.

He revealed that out of the 75,000, many had been settled and currently dwelling within the communities, thereby contributing to housing and infrastructural deficit.

Yahaya said, “In Gombe, though not in the frontline, we play host to a lot of displaced persons. From the last count, about 75,000 recorded families have relocated to Gombe and many of them have already integrated with our people because of their hospitality and accommodation to the brothers and sisters that happen to be in such a situation.

“As a result, a lot of our resources have been put to stress, from schools to hospitals to other social facilities. The NEDC came handy and is doing well enough to support us.”

He promised that the interventions would trickle to the poor and vulnerable people, noting that efforts had been put in place to ensure avoidance of sabotage.

Commenting on the de-radicalization, rehabilitation camp situated in Kwami LGA of the state, where repentant Boko Haram members are de-radicalised, Yahaya urged the commission to give the centre special support.

Meanwhile, NEDC is set to build 500 affordable mass housing units in Gombe.

The project was inaugurated on Wednesday at the site along Gombe-Kano road in Gombe metropolis by Governor Yahaya.

The governor appealed to NEDC and donor agencies to take special look at the state that had turned comforting harbour to many displaced Nigerians in the North-East.

Also, the Chairman of the NEDC Board, Maj. Gen. Paul Tarfa (retd.) said rebuilding North-East remained the key mandate of the commission.

According to him, the presidential mandate of revamping vital sectors of the six states of the North-East forms the most integral mission of the NEDC.