Hunger camps

•Children in an IDP camp feeding on onion leaves is cause for concern

The situation in many Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the north of Nigeria has been dire for quite some time. As the military reportedly extend the frontiers of victory and conquest against the anarchists, the soft war seems to escalate. Attempts by the Federal Government and her partners to manage the citizens displaced by the war against terror continue to be more challenging than actions in the shooting theatre.

In the 10 years of Boko Haram insurgency mainly in the northeast of Nigeria, the most notable aftermath has been the littering of camps for displaced persons in Borno, Abuja, Adamawa, Yobe and, to a lesser extent, Bauchi.

Call them misery camps, call them house of hunger and horror even, and you would not be far from reality. According  to the 2018 UNICEF humanitarian report published last July, there are about 1.76 million IDPs in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. This number would have notched up to over two million by the end of 2018 considering the increased activities of terrorists towards the end of the year.

From the foregoing, a recent report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) indicating that intense hunger has driven children in IDP camps in Bauchi to depend on onion leaves for survival has again brought to the front burner, the stark reality of a war raging on two fronts. A correspondent who visited the camp located about two kilometres to Rindebin community in Bauchi Local Government Area told the tale of pitiable children between the ages of three and five who live on onion leaves.

The parents of the children noted that they had to resort to onion leaves because they believe they were nutritious and were potent for protecting their children from hunger and diseases. No help has come from any quarters for nearly one year and acute hunger has driven them to new survival methods, including consuming raw onion leaves, they said.

The leader of the camp explained further that there were about 200 of them of the Shuwa-Arab stock who relocated to this camp from Borno State last year. Apart from insufficient food, there have been of course, no potable water, health and education facilities for the children.

The Bauchi State government has, however, given another twist to the story, insisting that there are no longer IDPs in the state. A director of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) noted that though there were IDPs, they had dissipated. He explained that this current group migrated from Maiduguri and were hired by an individual as farmers and they decided to make their dwelling in the large farm settlement.

We are of the opinion that what is playing out in Bauchi as in many other IDP locations is a dire situation poorly managed and already gone out of hands. The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and the Presidential Initiative on the North East, PINE charged with handling the attendant displaced persons crises arising from the Boko Haram insurgency have long been overwhelmed.

Apart from paucity of funding; poor leadership, corruption and incompetence have combined to make a mess of a bad crisis. A former top presidential aide lost his job and is on trial for alleged corruption in PINE projects. The leadership of NEMA is embroiled in allegations of mismanaging billions of naira meant for relief activities in the northeast while officials are accused of diverting food and medication meant for IDPs.

This latest report about feeding on onion leaves signposts the fact that government still does not have a handle on the IDP crises. We urge the Federal Government to move quickly to overhaul the entire management and procedures of this grave situation, with a view to achieving closure in the near future.