Private sector raises N30bn for northeast

The private sector has established a $83 million (about N30 billion) fund to assist in mitigating the humanitarian crisis in the Boko Haram-ravaged northeast.

The Nigerian Private Sector Initiative, led by Oando’s chief executive officer, Jibril Adewale Tinubu and Kyari Abba Bukar, were accompanied by the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator and other officials on an assessment tour of some of the IDP camps yesterday in Maiduguri.

Addressing journalists, Tinubu said the initiative would raise a 14-member committee comprising the leading corporates in Nigeria such as Nestle, Siemens, and Zenith Bank, to raise the money.

Responding, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State appealed to the Initiative to direct its major focus on the education of the about 53,000 children orphaned by Boko Haram, for whom his administration had established about 50 mega schools across the state.