Borno Donates Plots of Land to Families of 200 Slain Civilian JTF Members

Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri
Borno State Government has donated 200 plots of land to 200 widows of slain members of the Civilian Joint Taskforce (CJTF) who lost their lives fighting insurgency in the North-east.

The donation was made in conjunction with the Support For Widows, Orphans and Tsangaya (SWOT) Foundation, a pet project of the governor’s wife, Hajiya Nana Shettima.

Hajiya Shettima also gave out 200 bags of rice and sugar with wrappers and N5,000 to each of the beneficiaries as transport fare back to their respective houses.

Announcing the donation of the plots of land to the beneficiaries yesterday during the distribution of Ramadan gifts to the widows by SWOT Foundation at the multipurpose hall of Government House in Maiduguri, the state Commissioner of Land and Survey, Sugun Mai Mele, said the donation became necessary to encourage the widows of the slain fighters to own their homes.

Mele noted that the CJTF being a child of circumstances, does not have provision for pensions or allowances for its members, either from the federal or state governments, hence the state government deemed it necessary to support the widows despite that their husbands are no more.

“The CJTF was created out of circumstances and they are not expecting any pensions or allowances from either the state government or federal. But the state government deemed it fit to encourage and support the widows, notwithstanding that their husbands are no more.

“We have different categories of the slained CJTF Fighters. Some of them died married, others died without a wife while some of them died leaving only their orphans behind.

“So government has divided them into categories with different criteria. These particular group belong to the criteria of widows. The other ones who left their children behind, government is taking care of the orphans as well as families of those who died unmarried.,” Mele who represented Governor Kashim Shettima alongside the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Kaka Shehu Lawan, at the occasion said.

The 200 plots of land donated to the CJTF widows are located along popular Maiduguri-Kano road.

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