Apart from houses, UNDP said police accommodation and outposts, market stalls, water supply, a primary school, and a health clinic were also built for the people of the community.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has applauded its Regional Stabilisation Facility (RSF) initiative, which it claimed is helping in the efforts to resettle persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgents in Borno and other states in the North-east.
According to UNDP, Boko Haram attacks claimed over 350,00 lives in the Northeastern part of Nigeria, adding that more than 2.1 million have been displaced in the crisis that has lasted more than a decade.
Meanwhile, during the premiere of a documentary on the impacts of the resettlement programme recently, UNDP said it had built 804 houses in Ngarannam, one of the communities severely affected by the insurgency.
Apart from the houses, the global organisation said police accommodation and outposts, market stalls, water supply, a primary school, and a health clinic were also built for the people of the community.
The documentary, titled: "Ngarannam: The Homecoming," premiered on Saturday in Lagos as part of efforts to confirm the success stories recorded through the initiative.
Ngarannam, a community in Borno State that was displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in 2015, was reopened on 22 October 2022, as displaced persons, hitherto kept in various camps, returned home.
UNDP said in collaboration with the Borno State Government and funding support from the Federal Government of Nigeria, the European Union, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom, it had rebuilt the community that was in complete ruins.
The organisation said more than 5,000 people had since returned to their ancestral homes.
About documentary
Directed by an award-winning Nigerian filmmaker, Joel Benson, the documentary provides insight based on a first-hand account of the lives of the people affected by the conflict and their return to the village.
The documentary centred around three residents of the community- Amina, Falmata, and Hassan chronicles a touching story of struggle, loss and fear as it follows their journey right from the first 2015 insurgency attack on their village to the 2022 intervention programme engineered by UNDP.
After losing everything following the attack by Boko Haram, residents of Ngarannam resided in Muna Garage Camp- one of 277 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Borno State.
According to UNDP, between 2014 and 2023, millions of people lived in these camps, and despite the living challenges, IDP camps provided a safe space for people to seek refuge.
"On the night we escaped, I wondered if I would ever walk along the fields I played in as a child and if things would ever go back to the way they were. After living in a camp for almost a decade, I hope our story inspires others not to give up on their dreams of returning home someday," said Amina Modu, 19 years old, who is one of the main characters of the film.
Expressing gratitude for the rebuilding project, Babagana Zulum, the Governor of Borno State, said: "Borno has gone through a lot of internal and external turmoil over the last decade. The only way to prevent the next generation from joining the extremists is to make sure that many villages are stabilised, allowing people to return and use their agricultural lands, which will enable them to earn their living.
"That is why I'm glad UNDP has joined hands with us in giving the next generation renewed hope and by helping us to reach others to continue to support more work like this."
In his remarks, the Resident Representative for UNDP Nigeria, Mohamed Yahya, noted that the documentary is a way of telling a powerful story of people who are not visible in a dignified manner.
"Nagarannam: The Homecoming is about people who are rising above their circumstances and willing to collectively be part of a journey that shifts the trajectory of their future - it is the unbeatable power of people when they are part of something meaningful," he said.
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"The story of Ngarannam, as depicted in the film, gives people hope that they too can be part of solutions that prioritises their needs and ambitions. - We now have a proof of concept that provides the blueprint to scale up and replicate the same work in other affected regions."
About UNDP's RSF
The RSF is a financing facility developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to facilitate the implementation of the Regional Strategy for the Stabilisation, Recovery & Resilience of the Boko Haram-affected Areas of the Lake Chad Basin (RSS) of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC).
The RSS seeks to restore security and bring relief to communities affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.
In Nigeria, under the RSF, UNDP in Nigeria note that it is currently supporting the rebuilding of six communities across Northeastern Nigeria in three states - Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.
