The quest for food and necessities has forced women in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps to take desperate measures to survive. Instances of day-old babies killed and dumped are also becoming rampant, FAITH YAHAYA reports
THE prevailing economic hardship appears to have brought out the worst in some fellow Nigerians living in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. The situation is aggravated by the continued closure of land borders with neighbouring countries. Prices of staples and other necessities have skyrocketed beyond the reach of many poor families. The closure has also affected the supply of food items, particularly rice and relief materials to the various IDP camps across the Northeast.
For IDPs living in various camps in Maiduguri, Borno State, the inability of states and the Federal Government to distribute relief materials in the past two months has been attributed to the border closure. Lack of relief materials has caused hunger in the camp and has forced many to seek survival by whatever means. For most of the female IDPs, it is alleged that they now exchange sex for money or any food item.
Visits by The Nation to some of the formal and non-formal camps in Borno revealed the deplorable state the campers live. From Abuja to Maiduguri, the 60 minutes to 75 minutes flight depending on the size of the aircraft, is always welcomed by the 32 to 34 degrees temperature with scorching sun and hot breeze.
One had expected to meet a deserted airport on arrival. But to the amazement of this reporter, the airport terminal, which looked like a makeshift building, was very busy. The arrival and departure areas were filled with passengers, mostly humanitarian aid workers, military personnel, researchers and others who were in the northeast for one business or the other. The sound of aircraft taking off and landing is one thing they are accustomed to. Plying military jets, private aeroplanes and commercial aircraft have made the airport busy. The terminal building that was hurriedly commissioned by the then Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika before he handed over in the last dispensation is not yet in use.
Driving out of the airport, the street is busy with vehicles, tricycles, and bicycle riders, pedestrians going to different locations and of course, beggars who are mainly women. The ubiquitous street urchins (Almajiri) with plates in hand are part of the mix. They beg for food and money for their daily survival. The streets are filled with branded vehicles with various inscriptions and logos of the numerous humanitarian agencies that have turned Maiduguri to their base. Neem trees of varying sizes dot the frontage of many of the houses, thereby reducing the impact of the heat on the environment.
The streets and major junctions in the town wear colourful banners and buntings bearing messages emphasising the need for education. Some of such inscriptions read: “With a gun, you can’t kill education, with education, you can kill terrorism”; “Education is the powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
In the various IDP camps, tales of those who narrowly escaped death as a result of the insurgency are similar. Some of the IDP camps visited in Maiduguri include; Kusheri, CBN, Jiddari Polo, Muna Garage, Bakassi, Jiddari Afghanistan, Mashidimami, Musinee, and others. Some of the inmates narrated their terrible experiences during the invasion of their towns and villages by the Boko Haram insurgents.
One of the inmates, Bulama Umara, fled Konduga with his two eyes intact. But he has gone blind owing to lack of healthcare services and money to treat himself. Umara, who is being guided around by one of his grandchildren, said, “I had my two eyes before the attack on our community. I even fled Konduga and came here with my two eyes. But I later developed high blood pressure and as a result, I went for traditional treatment instead of a hospital and I completely lost my sight.
For Mama Emmanuel, she was pregnant when her community was attacked. She said she escaped through the help of a soldier. According to her: “The attack was getting so serious and we had to start running to anywhere we felt would be safe. I was already due for delivery that period but I didn’t know where I got my strength from. While we were trying to escape, I assisted my children in scaling the fence. When it was my turn, I was not even done scaling the fence when a bullet hit the man who assisted me. The man could not make it. When I was done scaling the fence, a soldier helped me. The stress of jumping the fence made me experience early labour. I was rushed to the hospital by the young soldier. He made sure he waited till I was delivered of the baby. As a way to remember and appreciate his effort, I named my baby after the soldier though I don’t know if he is still alive”.
For Abba Tom Jidda, he believes the attack on his community was destined by God. Jidda, who used to own many cows and many farms, said he now depends on people to feed. Giving a brief tale of his past life, he said: “I owned over 200 cows before the attack. When our community was attacked, I remember I still had about 62 bags of millet in my store for my personal use not to talk of other food products. I was living very fine but now I depend on NGOs to feed. It is not a bad situation because the clerics even said the world revolves. I believe it is my turn to be fed by people. The most important thing is that I am alive. At the peak of the crisis, barber’s lives were under serious attack. Some people were killed because they don’t grow beards. At that time, barbers were seen as sinners for cutting people’s hair. They could not boldly come out to say they barb for a living. The barbers that were identified were taken away and killed.
Food crisis
For the IDPs living in various camps, feeding has become a major problem as they have not received relief materials in the last two months. Some attributed the delay in the distribution of relief materials to border closure while others blamed it on the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) who they said, was delaying the signing of a contract with new contractors for supplies.
Amid food shortage, one of the female IDPs in the largest camp in Bakassi camp, Maiduguri, was said to have had sex with a male IDP in exchange for a tin of evaporated milk. A visit to Jiddari, a host community that houses about 3000 IDPs, revealed that most of those who escaped the insurgents find it difficult to fend for themselves. They do not have access to potable water despite the presence of a borehole in their community. According to them, the borehole stopped working three years ago, which has denied them access to water. Those who must have their bath daily have to trek for about 50 minutes to fetch water or buy from vendors (Mai ruwa) who mostly sell 14 kegs for N150.
Inmates at Jiddari camp complained that they have never benefitted from relief materials distributed by aid workers. Before now, most IDPs in Maiduguri used to get food and relief materials at regular intervals. Besides the long distance between it and Maiduguri, trenches dug by the military close to Jiddari have made the place inaccessible to aid workers. Usually, relief materials meant for them are allegedly hijacked by non-IDPs.
The road leading to the community is not easily accessible and our correspondent was dissuaded from visiting the camp. According to the natives, moving close to the camp may be considered a security threat and that military personnel could mistake a visitor for a Boko Haram suspect.
The campers who claimed to have been in the community for the past six years are mostly women who claimed their husbands were killed by Boko Haram insurgents. They were however seen with little children of ages one to eight. One peculiar case was that of Falmata Makilta, a 40-year-old grandmother who was left with two of her grandchildren to take care of. According to her, her son was killed by the insurgents. “I am a grandmother with two grandkids to take care of. I have five children. My son travelled to get charcoal when he was attacked and killed. Later on, my daughter-in-law abandoned the kids who were four years and one year with me and she went to remarry.”
Besides the case of Makilta, a source familiar with the living condition of the IDPs said they indulge in “black market”. Black market, according to him, is the exchange of sex for basic needs which has become luxury for the women. The women when asked about the whereabouts of the father of their children, they were quick to say “ba baba” (no fathers for the children). The children are products of illicit affairs occasioned by necessity.
“People who give find it difficult to access us because of the ditch created by the military. We are in our present location because we have nowhere to go and most of our husbands were killed during insurgency attacks. The soldiers use the manmade ditch to prevent suspects from coming into Maiduguri because it has been discovered that the insurgents gain entry into the town through Jiddari. Everyone familiar with the terrain knows that nobody is allowed to cross or get close to the ditch. Whoever gets close is considered a terrorist and shot. So, the fear has prevented people from coming to our aid and we have nowhere to go.
“The ditch is a hole the military dug to create a barrier between communities they are protecting and the bush. Anybody outside the ditch is considered an enemy. There used to be communities like Al-Dawari after Jiddari but it has been cleared and taken over by bushes. Leaving the community at certain times and approaching the ditch makes the military consider you an informant going out to give information to the insurgents.
During the rainy season, tricycle riders avoid the community because of the bad state of the road. For this reason, their pregnant women usually give birth without medical attention or the help of a midwife. According to them, older women with experience in childbirth assist with the deliveries ones. The only available hospital is far away.
Confirming what most of the IDPs in Jiddari said, the Wajen Masallacin, Goni Umara (Chief Imam) said: “If aid workers come around our community, people hijack the relief materials because our place is too close to the military zone. This place used to be called Jiddari Afghanistan because it witnessed the highest number of attacks at the peak of the insurgency. Boko Haram most times enter through Jiddari but residents later decided to adopt only Jiddari to avoid scaring people from their community. Over 2000 IDPs are hosted by me. Interventions come to this area but it does not get to those who need them”.
Highlighting some of the challenges faced by the IDPs, said, “We will appreciate a makeshift shelter because some women here find it difficult to eat. Some stay for over a week without cooking because they have nothing to cook. Women give birth without proper medical care because hospitals are far and expensive. For a pregnant woman, she needs to have more than N3000 before she can attempt going for ante-natal and it is quite a distance”.
Proffering solution to the hijacking of food supplies, he said: “If there is proper documentation of the IDPs, this problem of food being hijacked by people who are not real IDPs will be addressed.”
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