The Nation Newspaper

Tag: IDP

  • Benue confirms return of IDPs to ancestral homes

    The Benue State Government yesterday confirmed that some Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state have started returning to their homes.

    Information and Orientation Commissioner, Lawrence Onoja, told reporters in Makurdi, the state capital, that since the commencement of the military operation on May 18, “the spate of attacks has reduced, with the invaders chased away, allowing some of those displaced to return to their homes, though their homes were reduced to rubble and their means of livelihood destroyed.”

    He added: ”This feat is being achieved at a great expense, with some of those involved in the operation paying the supreme sacrifice while others have suffered various degrees of injuries.”

    He hailed “these gallant patriots, who have demonstrated unequalled commitment to providing security for their fatherland, as well as all the families who have lost loved ones.”

    He commended  President Muhammadu Buhari for “responding to our call to upgrade and replace the military exercise, Ayem Akpatuma, with a full scale military operation.”

    He said the state’s request to the federal government  was necessitated by “the need to flush out blood- thirsty herdsmen militia who invaded several communities in the state since January.”

    He said the  State Emergency Management Agency registered more than 180, 000 displaced persons which “it has been catering for in eight camps while over 500, 000 IDPs are taking shelter wherever they find space.”

  • Creating opportunities for IDPs through agric

    United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Nigeria and British-American Tobacco Foundation are creating business and employment opportunities for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Northeast through agriculture, writes DANIEL ESSIET.

    Building on its work in meeting early-recovery needs of conflict-affected populations in the Northeast, the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP) Nigeria  has supported farmers with inputs to help them resgain their lost livelihoods.

    Over 600 farmers were supported with seeds, fertiliser and insecticide in Ngwom community in Mafa Local Government Area in Borno State.

    The intervention was part of UNDP Nigeria’s integrated community stabilisation package which  used Ngwom as its pilot scheme.

    The government of Japan is supporting the project, which has been providing agricultural inputs for rainy season farming, irrigation, livestock farming and fishery to about 1,700 farmers in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states.

    In Adamawa, more than 200 farmers received inputs. Most of the beneficiaries are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Borno State while others are from host communities.

    The private sector has keyed into the project.

    One of such organisations is British-American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) Foundation that has unfolded a rural-friendly programme for IDPs to access agriculture support services and entrepreneurship.

    Hajia Halima Ahamda is a beneficiary. A widow with three children from Tarila District of Yola South Local Government Area of Adamawa State, she and her kinsmen and women migrated to Yola in 2015, after being displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    Mrs Ahamda is a peasant farmer, who cultivated crops and kept livestock before the attack.

    Last year, BATN Foundation, in collaboration with Adamawa State FADAMA III AF, supported her and 999 IDPs through its livelihood support project.

    She was trained in livestock best practices, and given one male and three female goats.

    One year after, she is celebrating her success because the female goats have produced seven kids, with others pregnant.

    Mrs Ahamda said she would sell the animals and use the money to solve her domestic needs, such as paying her children’s school fees and expanding her agriculture enterprise.

    Mrs Ahamda is not the only one  BATN Foundation has touched. Mallam Jubril Shuaibu is another beneficiary. A native of Ganana Tinja Village in Fika Local Government Area of Yobe State, in 2014, he was among those displaced by the Boko Haram crisis.

    His property was destroyed. Without any means of livelihood, he and his family were forced to stay at IDPs camp at Damaturu.

    BATN Foundation collaborated with the International Food and Agriculture Development Climate Adaptation and Agribusiness Support Programme (IFAD-CASP) Yobe State office, last year, to implement a livelihood support project.

    Shuaibu received training and agriculture inputs to set up a farm, including four bags of 50kg fertiliser, 50 kg rice seed, two litres of herbicides and technical support.

    At the end of the season last December, he harvested 1.9 tonnes of rice from his 0.45-hectare farm.

    Proceeds from the produce sale, he said, were used to rebuild his burnt house, and feed his family.

    Speaking in Lagos, BATN Chairman Chief Kola Jamodu said the foundation had voted N700 million to boost agriculture. The amount is to be spent over a five-year period, under its Nigeria’s Country plan. So far, the foundation has spent N1.5 billion on agricbusiness.

    He said the project is targeting 62,000 rural farmers and five million people.

    Jamodu said the foundation would empower small farm holders to ensure food security in the country.

    He explained that BATN Foundation had taken intervention with small holding farmers as a serious business. This  is because the it sees them as a means of alleviating poverty on a large scale.

    Farmers, according to him, are offered quality seeds, fertiliser, agrochemicals, and  free training.

    Jamodu said the foundation had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMET) for the establishment of a collaboration to provide weather information to farmers.

    According to him, the objective of the deal is for NiMET to provide weather information, including the likely period of dry spell and locations of likely flash flood occurrences to farmers, who depend on rain-fed agriculture.

    British American Tobacco Managing Director, Chris McAlister said   in this modern agriculture, many farmers were still struggling with the pre-requisite to move from small scale to large scale farming and that this has threaten their ability to rise out of poverty.

    He reiterated that his organisa-tion would continue to provide funding and other assistance to ensure that they were able to support agricultural enterprises and improve the livelihood of those living in the rural areas, because they accounts for nearly 73.2 per cent of less privileged households in Nigeria.

    BATN Foundation Executive Director Abimbola Okoya said the foundation had established model farms across the country as part of its agriculture technology transfer to boost entrepreneurship.

    The model farms, with the ability to generate income, are part of the solution to taming the exodus of the youth to urban areas with their high income turnover expected to attract the youth into agribusiness.

    On  five-year programme, BATN Foundation General Manager, Mrs. Ololade Johnson-Agiri said the goals include creating market access through market-driven interventions, encouraging participation in out grower schemes for the production of staples crops, such as maize, rice and cassava, propelling value addition through-out agric value chain and promo-ting mechanisation and good agricultural practices.

    Others are providing humanitarian aid to IDPs, supporting government-led interventions, promoting young engagement and participation in agriculture and building quality human capacity and enterprise development.

    On the enterprise development, she explained that the foundation is pursuing a model that creates economic opportunities for rural farmers across the value chains, by taking up the cost of production and providing linkage to market.

    The main goal, according to her, is to move them from subsistence to commercial agriculture.

    She stressed that the programme provides support to agri-preneurs to help them create, build and expand their businesses in a viable and sustainable way.

    She said the foundation will offer grants to reputable organisations who can deliver results in outlined thematic areas.

     

  • UNDP trains IDPs on entrepreneurship in Adamawa

    UNDP trains IDPs on entrepreneurship in Adamawa

    A total of 50 youths, mostly Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Adamawa, have completed entrepreneurship training organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

    Speaking at the graduation ceremony in Yola, the Country Director of UNDP, Dr Samuel Bwalya, represented by Dr Robert Asugwa, the Team Leader, said the training was part of UNDP’s intervention in promoting development.

    Bwalya said such programme of training people to be employable handled by UNDP had been successful in many states.

    He cited Lagos where he said companies had been employing such trainees.

    “For us to develop we need entrepreneurship development and that is the essence of this training,” he said.

    He tasked the trainees on challenges they would face at the initial stage of their businesses and urged them not to hesitate in seeking help and information which he said, were key to progress.

    “We will monitor you to find out how you are doing; the challenges you are facing or the progress you are making,” the country director said.

    The Executive Secretary of Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), Mr Haruna Furo, lauded UNDP for the gesture and urged the beneficiaries to make maximum use of the training in order to improve their lives.

    He reiterated the commitment of the State Government to continue to collaborate with UNDP and other stakeholders in job creation, particularly for those willing to be self employed.

    Speaking of behalf of the graduating trainees, Jimmy Elot, thanked UNDP for giving them hope and a lifeline to build a future.

    “We will make sure that the resources expended on our training are not wasted,” Elot said.

     

  • Group to SSS, EFCC: Invite Orbih to prove IDP rice allegation

    Group to SSS, EFCC: Invite Orbih to prove IDP rice allegation

    Members of Concerned Citizens of Edo State (CCES), a non-governmental organisation, have called on the Nigeria Police, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the State Security Service (SSS) to invite Dan Orbih, chairman, Edo State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for proof of his allegation that the Edo State government diverted bags of rice meant for Internally Displaced (Persons IDPs).

    President of the association, Mr Ogbewi Aghedo, said that “There are several dimensions to this allegation. The credibility of the Edo State government has been called to question by the allegation. The Edo State PDP chairman has also by that comment, accused the state government of criminal diversion of the relief materials approved for internally displaced persons and yet another diversion is the indictment of a Senator from Ondo State, whose name was not given by Orbih.

    “You will agree with me that these are weighty allegations and cannot be equated with mere politicking. These alleged crimes fall within the purview of the police, the EFCC and the SSS and the recorded audio interview of Dan Orbih on Independent Radio is sufficient material for preliminary investigation by these security agencies.”

    Aghedo said its members are aware that the state government has petitioned the state commissioner of police. “This a step in the right direction. The allegation is an attack on the integrity of the state government and it is only proper for the state to rise up to the occasion and demand proof.”

    The allegation, according to Aghedo, “is equivalent to whistle blowing and as you are aware, when you have your facts and proof, the federal government will reward you for blowing the whistle, but if you blow a false whistle, we all know the implication.”

    He added that as a stakeholder in the nation’s democracy project, its activities includes identifying actions and inactions that pose threat to the lives of the ordinary Edo people and Nigerians alike, defend them against obnoxious policies and laws and defend pro-people policies and programmes, amongst others.

    Edo PDP chairman alleged on a live radio programme on Thursday in Benin City, that over 300 bags of rice approved for internally displaced persons were diverted by the Edo State government to the house of an Ondo State Senator.

    Orbih was quoted as saying on the Independent Radio pidgin English programme, Man Around Town: “This thing no be matter Edwey them take debate. Them carry this rice go give one Senator for Ondo, that one na Internally displaced person? We get record for how them take share this rice among themselves.

    “Them carry this rice on a Sunday go one house before By-pass. On a Sunday, because make people no see wetin them dey do. We have all these records. We know the movements. We know what they were doing. I was just watching them to see whether these people get heart.”

  • EFCC UNCOVERS N2.5B FRAUD IN NEMA

    EFCC UNCOVERS N2.5B FRAUD IN NEMA

    • Top directors, officers own companies to secure relief materials contracts
    • Four fake IDPs’ camps created to make money

    The National Emergency Manage-ment Agency (NEMA) is currently enmeshed in a massive scandal after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) uncovered an alleged N2.5billion fraud in the operations of the organisation.

    The scandal was perpetrated through incorporation of fake companies, creation of fake IDPs’ camps and award of frivolous contracts.

    The EFCC may invite a former Director-General of NEMA and some serving directors for interrogation on the fraud.

    Some of the companies engaged by NEMA are alleged to have failed to remit N354,905,000 as accumulated taxes to the Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS).

    Besides, the anti-graft agency is probing alleged diversion of foods and relief materials meant for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-East to Chad and Niger Republic.

    The Nation gathered that the EFCC launched the probe following intelligence that the ex-DG of NEMA and some directors “siphoned, misappropriated and diverted public funds to the tune of over N2.5billion.”

    A source familiar with the investigation said: “Preliminary investigation indicated that fake companies were incorporated and fake way bills were used in securing contracts in NEMA.

    “Funds were diverted under the guise of some purported training of some staff which was never conducted. Some of the directors involved had incorporated personal companies and secured contracts with the agency.

    “Some of the companies engaged by NEMA have also failed to remit N354,905,000 as accumulated taxes  to the Federal Inland Revenue Service(FIRS). The unpaid taxes were from 2014 to date.

    “There are cases of some directors, who are civil servants, owning about five to 10 companies in order to corner contracts in NEMA. There is an instance of a director with about 20 accounts in which fake contract sums were paid into.”

    A well-placed source said: “As part of our investigation, we are looking into alleged diversion of foods and relief materials meant for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-East to neighbouring countries, especially Chad and Niger Republic.

    “We have discovered instances where trucks loaded with relief materials were diverted to these neighbouring countries for sale.

    “There is also a case of inflated household for phantom purchase and delivery of relief materials. At a point, they even created three to four fake IDP communities where relief materials were diverted.

    “Another dimension to the scandal in NEMA is alleged frivolous and overtime claims by some directors and workers of the agency.

    “Some of the vouchers showed some staff, who are civil servants, demanding refund of N20million as claims they spent on behalf of NEMA. How did a civil servant incur N20million debt on behalf of his or her agency?”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “The EFCC will soon invite a former Director-General of NEMA, some directors, staff, companies and contractors for questioning.

    “Already, the detectives handling the case have retrieved relevant vouchers and documents relevant to the ongoing investigation.”

  • NMRC empowers 45 IDPS with housing construction skills

    The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) has empowered 45 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) with technical skills in different aspects of housing construction work.

    The skills are in masonry/tiling –plumbing as well as electrical installations.

    The 45 beneficiaries, who currently reside at the IDP Camp in New Kuchingoro Abuja, yesterday graduated from a two-month NMRC sponsored vocational training programme facilitated by the Industrial Training Fund (ITF).

    Qualified building professionals and experts were engaged to train the graduating IDPs.

    NMRC also provided the graduates with relevant start-up tool kits in their respective fields of training to enable them to ply their new skills.

    Speaking at the closing ceremony to mark the graduation of the IDPs, NMRC’s Managing Director/Chief Executive, Professor Charles Inyangete noted that the training programme is part of NMRC’s strategic community outreach program designed to impact lives and contribute to solving problems in the housing construction sector.

    In his words: “Today is a day of delight for me. NMRC is proud to have initiated this program and happy to note that the first batch of beneficiaries have graduated. We believe that they are now empowered with the right skill set to work as experts and earn a decent living for themselves and their families. We also know that by this, we are helping to reduce the skill deficit in the housing sector. It is our plan to sustain this effort as our contribution to improving technical skills in the construction industry.”

    In her remarks at the event, the representative of the Director General/CEO, Industrial Training Fund, Mrs. Evelyn Irabor, Director/Head of Training, ITF commended NMRC for the initiative to empower IDPs. She said that the training has given the beneficiaries the capacity to constructively participate in the rebuilding of their communities which have been destroyed by the Boko Haram insurgency.

    Dr. Chii Akporji, NMRC’s Executive Director in charge of Policy, Strategy and Business Development and initiator of the programme expressed fulfilment that the two-pronged strategy of NMRC – to economically empower displaced persons and contribute to reducing the housing industry skill deficit – is now a reality. She restated NMRC’s commitment to progressing the training and impacting more lives.

    In his response on behalf of the beneficiaries, Mr. Enoch Yohanna, the Camp Secretary expressed gratitude to NMRC for coming to their aid after their displacement from their homes by the Boko Haram crisis.

  • Orphans, IDP camps children stole show at Dogara’s high profile birthday bash

    Orphans, IDP camps children stole show at Dogara’s high profile birthday bash

    Orphans and children in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps are in for a good time this year. All thanks to the N250m realized at the 50th birthday bash of House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

    The week-long event began with novelty football matches between his friends in the public and private sectors. In the match between the Senators and members of the House of Representatives, which ended in a goal apiece, Senate President Bukola Saraki equalised through a mysterious penalty kick to cancel out the earlier goal scored by the Speaker. There was also another match between the Speaker’s side and the private sector captained by industrialist Aliko Dangote.

    The final leg of the Abuja event included a church service, witnessed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. It also included visits to 19 orphanage homes, where food items, toiletries, beddings as well as beverages and dried fish were distributed to the children.  At Treasure Orphanage Foundation and Abuja Children’s Home in Karu, a suburb of Abuja, Dogara told the children not to despair or dwell too much on the circumstances that placed them where they found themselves today.

    Dogara assured the children that the proceeds of the birthday programme, including the launch of his autobiography authored by Dele Momodu would be donated to the less privileged. He urged the authorities and the well-to-do in the country to give back to the society.

    He said: “We are here in response to the higher call of duty to support the less fortunate and less privilege in society. For the young people who are in this Home, I want to encourage you that there is no one who can stop you from rising to the top, only you can stop yourselves. All you need is discipline, the gift, the talent; time and opportunity are equally given to all of us by God. The circumstances of your birth or the situation in which you find yourself do not change the fact that God Has deposited talent in us. There are people who were in similar positions before now and have gone to accomplish so much. With God, discipline and focus, you don’t need anyone because as you are destined by God, He will provide for you.”

    At the reception held at the prestigious International Conference Center (ICC), Abuja on Boxing Day, where ‘A reed made Flint’ was also launched, not less than N250m was realised. The exquisitely decorated hall witnessed the assemblage of movers and shakers of the Nigerian society and there was no dull moment throughout the evening with star gospel artistes Panam Percy Paul and Tope Alabi providing inspirational songs. The duo of Sam and Song blew everyone away with their brand of comedy at the event chaired by Saraki.

    President Muhammadu Buhari, who wrote the Forward of the autobiography that was reviewed by Reuben Abati, in his goodwill message, said Dogara was a dependable ally, while revealing that when he assumed office, one of his greatest desires was to be blessed with men of impeccable characters to steer the country right.

    “Dogara is a fulfillment of that desire,” Buhari said.  He was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.

    The guest list boasted of former First Lady Mariyam Abacha, Governors Aminu Tambuwa (Sokoto), Muhammed Abubakar (Bauchi), Nasarawa State Deputy Governor Silas Agara and Edo State Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu. The event was also attended by former Speakers Dimeji Bankole and Patricia Etteh.

    Dogara revealed that Dangote Foundation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have promised to partner him in his pet project of catering for the less privileged.

  • Camps of sorrow and shame

    Camps of sorrow and shame

    In bold relief, Nigeria has once again been portrayed as a basket case in the eyes of the world. The lead front page story of The New York Times, international edition (Saturday-Sunday, December 9-10) tells a heart-rending story of sorrow and shame in Nigeria’s Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDP) camps.

    A longish story of about 40 paragraphs titled: “Fleeing from Boko Haram, to cruelty”, is a damning report not just about the state of the IDP camps in the north east but also signposts the overall situation in Nigeria.

    The report tells in graphic details, the harrowing experiences of women and girls in the hands of men in the camps – men who are supposed to protect them.

    One of such examples is the case of a young girl, Falmata. At 11, she was abducted by the Boko Haram terrorists, raped, abused and even impregnated. At 14, she managed to escape from the Boko Haram bandits and was picked by soldiers who took her to Dalori IDPs camp outside Maiduguri, Borno State.

    As Falmata’s story goes, it was in this camp that her real ordeal started. For the two months she spent in the camp, she was serially raped nearly every day by people she described as soldiers because they bore guns. According to the report, “it was unclear whether they were members of the military, the police or another security force. She said they carried weapons.”

    “I felt it would continue forever,” Falmata said of the abuse. She had to flee once again, this time from those who were meant to protect her.

    As reported by The New York Times, Hadiza, 18, is another victim of security officials’ cruelty in the IDP camp. According to her, one method the security men deploy is to pick on the girl they desire to cook for them.

    Soon, the lot fell on Hadiza and her worst fears were confirmed. After cooking, she was asked to serve water to four security officers in their room. One by one the officers left until only one remained. He dragged her into a separate room and raped her, Hadiza said.

    “She tried to keep low profile for a couple of weeks, but officers spotted her and raped her again. She said she had been raped as many as 20 times in the camp.”

    “Once they identify you as a girl they wanted to have sex with, they would hardly leave you alone a single day,” Hadiza said. Soon word about the rampancy of rape and other atrocities in Teachers Village Camp spread far and wide across the city of Maiduguri.

    The stories are the same in the 13 camps across the country – rape; sex-for-food and materials, rampant pregnancy and abandonement of the mother and child. There is also pilfering of relief materials and extortion.

    But the Nigerian authorities did not seem to notice. Mid-2016, Human Rights Watch had reportedly written to various government agencies requesting comments on the various allegations emanating from all the camps. But it never received any response.

    About 13 camps holding over 2.5 million inmates is one of the scourges of the Boko Haram insurgency which turned for the worse in 2009. While the group has been largely decimated, the displaced persons in the camps seem to be neither reducing in number nor are there serious plans to resettle them in their homesteads.

    Issues in the camps escalate and get more complicated. Apart from paucity of food, drugs and other basic daily needs;  HIV-AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are ravaging the camps. Very high rate of pregnancy and traumatised young women pose fresh problems.

    Though the Federal Government set up the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE) about five years ago, results in terms of rebuilding the region and managing the IDP camps seem insignificant so far; what with the initiative being hit by fraud at the highest level of government, almost taking the wind out of its sail.

    We suggest a complete rethink of the entire Boko Haram episode in its entirety. Both the leadership as well as the military-security-intelligence architecture need to be overhauled if not changed completely.

    We suggest that the PINE must immediately be imbued with a notable and respectable face to drive it; someone who must be given targets and who has the requisite capacity to render monthly briefings of his activities.

    The same goes for the IDP camps. We are of the opinion that government must immediately institute a proper task force with a notable head to manage the camps. It must be someone who will be answerable for the happenings in the camps. His overriding mandate would be to return the inmates to their homestead in the shortest possible timeframe.

    We doubt that any other country has this number of people displaced within their boundaries. Not even countries in the midst of full blown war.

    This littering of wretched IDPs in Nigeria has become a source of global odium and it is of course, a marker as to the nature of the leadership in Nigeria.

     

  • Rape in Yobe IDP camp is false – SEMA

    Rape in Yobe IDP camp is false – SEMA

    Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) on Saturday refuted media reports alleging rape of some of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camped in Damaturu.

    “The report is misleading, lacking substance and without any iota of truth,” Musa Jidawa, SEMA’s  Permanent Secretary said in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Damaturu.

    According to him, the agency has provided adequate security at the government run camp in Pompomari to guard against such cases.

    He added that community leaders in other camps located in Kukareta, Kasaisa, Mohammed Gombe farm and YBC Abare have developed a very effective security network to protect the inmates of all abuses including rape.

    Jidawa who is also the chairman security and protection sector of humanitarian agencies in the state, noted that the media report had claimed that 30 rape cases were recorded, “yet no local or international humanitarian agency in the state came across any.”

    The official cautioned agencies and organizations operating outside the state from accepting unverified reports, saying it was important to cross check with stakeholders operating on ground.

    “It is very worrisome for any credible organization to dish out sensitive information without corroborating or verification from organizations who are on ground” Jidawa said.

  • PAN appeals to FG to adopt an egg a day strategy in IDPs’ diet

    PAN appeals to FG to adopt an egg a day strategy in IDPs’ diet

    The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has appealed to the Federal Government to incorporate “an egg a day’’ strategy in its feeding programmes for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and primary schools.

    The Director-General of PAN, Dr Onallo Akpa, made the appeal, while briefing newsmen on the commemoration of the World Egg Day in Abuja on Friday.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Egg Day is celebrated globally every Oct. 13 to help raise awareness of the benefits of eggs and their important role in life.

    The theme for this year’s edition is “Celebrate Eggs and It will Help Eliminate Hunger, Food Insecurity and Malnutrition’’.

    Read Also: Egg intake doesn’t cause heart attack – PAN

    Akpa said that adding eggs to the menu of IDPs and primary school pupils would facilitate the cognitive and mental development of children, while alleviating the issues of malnutrition.

    He also solicited the inclusion of eggs and its products in the feeding programmes put in place for soldiers on peacekeeping missions and inmates of Nigerian prisons.

    He said that the poultry industry had consistently contributed over 25 per cent of the agricultural sector’s input to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the national economy.

    Akpa underscored the need to develop the poultry industry because of the importance of poultry products, particularly eggs.

    “Eggs should be considered a priority food product that can be supplied to displaced persons at various locations or camps throughout the country.

    “To achieve the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); the importance of poultry products, especially chicken and eggs, needs to be seriously considered.

    “Also, these poultry products contribute about 36.5 per cent of the protein intake of Nigerians,’’ he said.

    Mrs Sarah Abagai of the Department of Dietetics, National Hospital Abuja, said that eggs contained important nutrients like selenium, Vitamin A and E, folate, riboflavin, choline and lutein.

    Abagai said that eggs are the only source of accessible and easily affordable protein, adding that more researches had proved that eggs were not a cause of excessive cholesterol and heart disease in the body.

    “Now in the health sector, we are targeting the first 1,000 days of every child. We are trying to look at that as a critical window of opportunity to address malnutrition.

    “If you want to buy fish, one might cost N600, and if it is in kilogrammes; it costs between N1,000 and N1,300 per kilo; meat also costs about N1,300 and N1,400 per kilo.

    “A pregnant woman, who must not carry a stunted child, needs adequate protein from the time of pregnancy and this comes handy with `an egg a day’.

    “People need to disabuse their minds of the news floating around because more and more research findings are vindicating eggs from issues of cholesterol and heart diseases,’’ she said.

    The dietician, who noted that methods of consuming eggs depended on individual choices, said that excessive heating of oil during egg frying could be dangerous to the consumer.

    NAN reports that some of the farmers who spoke at the event complained of the high cost of producing eggs without any significant increase in egg prices.