The Nation Newspaper

Tag: IDP

  • Our Girls and the fate of IDPs

    Our Girls and the fate of IDPs

    Our Girls are still missing since April 15, 2014 and no firm sign. Any hope for the families?

    Increasingly we are hearing strident calls on this government to look forward to proffer solutions and not backwards to capture the causes of most of the current downturn in the economy and value of the naira. Naira approximates to less than toilet paper at present and people should pay for their crimes, corruption and entire careers of federal mismanagement.

    Every shade of party has its saints, too few, and sinners, too many who participated whenever possible in the grand larceny against Nigeria. Perhaps government is already doing what any sane government should do. That is to do a bit of both, divide forces into the ‘looking backers’ and the ‘looking forwarders’ and let each proceed quickly, courts permitting.

    Unfortunately the malnourished and starving children in IDP camps under federal government sovereignty speak volumes about Nigeria’s core incompetence and corruption with diversion of food by able-bodied members of government and agencies. The National Human Rights Commission must investigate this crime against innocent children and jail the culprits. I warned years ago that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) were quite capable of looking after themselves. They were part of hard working self-sufficient communities before Boko Haram. Why does National Environment Management Authority (NEMA)or State Environment Management Authority (SEMA) think they have the right to ‘take over’ and actually feed fellow Nigerians with hands and legs and brains and time on their hands who love their children? All non- indigenes should be thrown out of camps unless the IDPs say they want them. Yes deliver food and living equipment to them but let them get on with their lives-cooking and selling, sowing, weaving, arts and craft, story-telling, engineering, medicine, nursing security and other professions. Employ them, pay them not ‘out of state’ people, to look after each other themselves. Establish an economy not a beggar’s camp.

    Government dropped the ball on this one and it is not about visits by high and mighty giving out Nigeria’s rice as their own but visits by real food-bringing people on a daily basis. A hungry IDP child today will be equally hungry tomorrow no matter what noodles or rice or gari you fill her stomach with today. Unless, of course, she is dead tomorrow and they do die in this ‘Great but cretinous’ land where National Assembly (NASS) members, ex-governors and others too numerous to mention, still in 2016, take millions home from the public purse monthly. Can you know a problem better than the victim and relations? Now we are witnesses to a totally preventable ‘near famine’ and for the malnourished it is a personal famine, not percentage. Have we no shame in our incompetence?  They should all be thrown out and new clean IDP hands found to feed themselves before Boko Haram says ‘life is more abundant on their side’.

    For those who want to forget about the past, let them look around the highways of their foreign retreats and look for the pothole- the sign of Nigeria. They will not find one for thousands of miles or the local government will be sued by the citizens. Let them ask their host for the intoxicating smell of diesel and petrol to fuel a million generators in case of a never-coming daily power failure or a destructive power surge. They will not find one generator in millions of homes many of which also use solar-Nigeria’s second gift from God after oil. Meanwhile we have a different yardstick in Nigeria. Success is judged by the size of your generator and your ability, or not, to fuel it 24/7 x 365 days x 30 years @ N4-10,000 a day. You do the maths.  Wives abuse their husbands, and even change them, for not meeting up to the 24/7 mark of those who steal for a living or have the office funding the generator.

    Nigerians have managed to convince themselves that their suffering is somehow in the national interest.  ‘You must suffer to develop`. No nation can grow if it enlarges potholes as a Federal Target instead of having a quick ‘pothole filling campaign’ nationwide involving local contractors and boys empowered like PWD of old-a man-a-mile.  Is it true that the petty traders dig the road at night to slow the traffic so that they can sell more goods? We cannot afford a few international roads, we want the kind of 1960s roads we can drive on not die on!

    Nigeria has no shame. It does not care who stole its collective wealth in trillions and does not care where it begs for its starving citizens and then the project implementers steal the funds raised. Someone should tell Bono and Zuckerberg how much Nigerians politicians collectively seize from the treasury, how much the country, parties and individuals are spending this month on elections.

    The ridiculous traffic on the Ibadan- Lagos ‘expressway’ is beyond imagination. By now the media should have taken to the sky for an aerial helicopter view or at least a drone view of the recurrent Sunday 4pm traffic, the same for three years, now compounded by the super performance of Julius Berger Construction stripping a lane of the long bridge and forcing the maybe one million vehicles and 10 million travellers per day into two tight lanes.   Even the aircraft on routes in and out of Lagos Airport that pass over the Expressway can photograph the debacle. Any change?

     

  • IDPs’ plight worsens

    Following deteriorating plight of the Burma-Gosa Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Durumi area of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which is about 10km from the Presidential villa, many have resorted to commercial motorcycle business for survival.

    The suffering IDPs also surrounded by mega-churches, embassies and major national and international agencies, cannot  boast of two square meals a day, shelter, clothes, good medical care, or water.

    While recounting their ordeal, the secretary of the camp, Mr. Bala Yusuf recalled that at the initial stage, the wife the Chief of Army Staff Mrs Tukur Buratai had  built and donated a self-contained medical center to the camps.

    Yusuf said: “But the issue and the problem we have here is that we do not have enough drugs inside the center. Whenever there is any issue relating to accident or emergency we hardly get assistance from anybody because must of our peoples in the camps just do Okada business to assist in the health center, even the Okada that they are doing is illegal in Abuja and some time police will arrest them”

    According to him, “the director managing the medical center is very interested to do more to the to help the camp without any payment and since h started doing the work, he has families no body is paying him. So we are calling on our brothers in the country to give us a little support no matter how small it will go a long way to ease the suffering of the people in the camp, who barely feed once a day nor have access to medical care. If not for the food intervention  from good Samaritans that only sustain us for few days, or couldn’t go round sometimes” he added.

    He further called on the Federal Government to look into their plight.

    His words: “We need enough drugs for our medical center. The major problems we are facing in the camps as far as we are concern is the lack of educational systems and materials in the camps. We initially started teaching the children by ourselves because some of have all forms of qualifications, from SSCE, NCE and other qualifications.

    “We are teaching them but, you know any child that started doing

    primary schools here may no longer nor further pursuit to another level because as they complete primary six they can not go further because our school here is not attached to any government school of education.

    “When they finish primary 6, no common entrance , no JSS 1, no

    schools to attached them and we are looking for a responsible persons to assist us in taking such responsibilities to adopt the children into government schools. We are citizens of this country and we are suffering like a slaves in our country. It is not good and we believed that there are some kind of people wasting their resources.

    “It is only one bed in this health center that over two thousand three hundred people in the camp, are using  it and most time women are giving birth inside the Batcher, you can see the signs of the batchers one of the Batcher can accommodate only like 5 to 7 kids inside.

    “If rain is falling at the night some of our people can not sleep until the rain stops before we can enter to our various batchers, like the one that you are seeing here is housing almost 25 families and their kids inside it. We are calling of the two regions, Christian and Muslim to come to our aid.”

     

  • Foundation urges balanced diet for malnourished IDP children

    A Non Governmental Organization (NGO), YellowJerrycan‎ Save a Child, Lend a Hand Foundation has called on the Federal government to adopt a balance diet template to tackle malnutrition affecting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the various camps in Nigeria. Initiator of the foundation, Ms. Adaora Onyechere, who said this at a press conference in Abuja, urged well-meaning Nigerians assist in tackling malnutrition among children in the IDP camps in the North-East.

    Onyechere, who explained that there is an increase of non balanced diet among the camps, also noted that most of the IDPs who need the food usually don’t get it. She said: “We are saying that it is not enough to just send food to the camps. If the food were enough, they will not be in the state they are right now. There is an increase of non balanced diet among the camps. “It is interesting as well because when you look at the formation and structure of the distribution of the food, the people who need the food usually don’t get the food. The accessibility of the food is not even made available.

    “There is no monitoring and evaluation system. We do know there are staple food been distributed. These are not the majority of the diet these people need. We have people who are toddlers.” She warned that if the federal government refuses to put a template in place to savage malnutrition in the various IDP camps, the situation could result in the outbreak of crimes. According to her, templates and structures are important in the fight against malnutrition, adding that there was need to depoliticize the issue and see it more as a time bomb waiting to explode.

    “The structure and the template should begin with one camp at a time; it is not enough to take 70 truckloads of food to each of the IDPs camp. They need to know what were they being given, what are the intervention plans given, what are the age categories, to what extent are these food going to be distributed and what is the template to be adopted for every other camp. “We need to harmonise. The federal government is doing all it can. I believe that certain duties could overwhelm NEMA as an agency. The federal government should begin to adopt template that are being posted by either NGOs, or well tried research organizations to be able to intimate all of these templates across board ‎so that in the interim we can have a referral and say this has worked for one camp and we can actually duplicate it in other camps.

    “If we don’t have a template, we might deal with not just malnutrition we might actually do with‎ outbreak of crimes because what we will begin to see is people leaving camp to look for substitute for likelihood especially for keep up with nutrition. Rice, oil and onions are not staple foods, when a child has no access to milk, beans after breastfeeding is bound to be malnourished.” ‎Also, Representative of Centre for Women and Adolescents Campaign, Hajia Asmau Soda, noted that meals required to curb malnutrition in the IDP camps are not being provided. “I think the emphasis is on the real food needed to fight malnutrition is really not provided probably because they are more expensive,” she said.

  • Terrible tales from IDP camps

    SIR: Since Boko Haram insurgency became blustery, communities in the North-east have repeatedly experienced loss of lives, livelihood and homes.

    For all that, in what appears to be a swift move to cater for these citizens, the government introduced Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) camps in what is supposed to be a temporary safe haven for feeding and housing. As a result of this move, donations flooded in from individuals and organizations, both locally and internationally.

    Recently, report of severely malnourished IDPs at immediate risk of death in Borno State camps was released to the media by Doctors Without Borders.

    In their report, the international humanitarian-aid and non-governmental organization stated that “Since May 23, at least 188 people have died in the camp—almost six people per day—mainly from diarrhoea and malnutrition.”

    There were also unconfirmed reports that trucks filled with rice supposedly meant for Adamawa state IDP camps have been diverted.

    At a time when our people need sympathy and support one is forced to ask: Where is the place of empathy and true fear of God we often learn from our religious houses? Did all our leaders not swear by the Bible and Quran to be fair and honest in their discharge duties?

    Aporous system and lack of positive values are some of the many maladies eroding the ethical base of socio-economic development in our society.

    For a second, let’s consider this fact: As at today, no official or comprehensive national data, or policy framework exists on IDPs in the country.

    Two things are clear: These acts are the product of an unholy coterie of people trusted with the resources and such people are deep into venal ways such as stealing from the IDPs’ aid system to take care of their pervasive needs.

    Without doubt, many feel justified in concluding that the undertaking of handling donations from individuals and organizations by those entrusted with the task of running the IDP scheme is on a steep trajectory for failure.

    The inability of just ousted government to curtail Boko Haram carnage, among many reasons, paved way for the new order with the change mantra. Likewise, it is on record that people in the IDP camps stood in lines in the midst of lack and pain to vote in the government of the day.

    Without a doubt, the government is making extensive efforts in tackling corruption and steady military progress against Boko Haram insurgents. Nonetheless, taking care of these people, amongst others, should be a priority.Security concerns, inadequate access to basic services and dolorous state of livelihood, and of recent, malnutrition isconstantly plaguing these people.

    In all seriousness, it will be inappropriate for the administration at state and federal level to remain tongue-tied while brigands with moral turpitude grow fat on largesse from IDPs.

    Moreover, the public is offended by these acts of apathy and the society is nowgrowing intolerant of cover-up. Therefore, to avoid losing the trust of the people a broad approach is needed on how to demystify this conundrum of rumoured diversion, malnutrition and deaths.

    The government should rethink the long-standing practices of sweeping news of such inhuman acts under the carpet considering social media has since taken its place as alternative to mainstream media exposing corrupt acts with audio visual confirmation.

    Finally, it is important to emphasize that it takes high moral rectitude to exercise the moral strength required to serve. Dutiful people of integrity with broad outlook for common good above their narrow group interests should be sorted and empowered and monitored. The status quo is not acceptable. The system designed to aid IDPs should not leave them out of the scheme.

     

    • David Dimas

    Laurel, Maryland, U.S.A

  • USAID, varsity back 4,150 IDP farmers in Adamawa

    WE  were at home when they told us that Boko Haram was coming,” said Aisha Malafa. “So we left the village and ran to the mountains. They killed so many of my relatives but some of us were able to escape,” she said.

    Malafa’s village, Guyaku, was rendered desolate by Boko Haram.

    She was one of the 4,150 indigent farmers in Adamawa State who recently benefitted from the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with the American University of Nigeria–Adamawa Peace Initiative (AUN-API).

    The gesture shone some bright light into the life of those devastated by the terror group.

    USAID and AUN-API donated farm inputs to about 150, 000 people in the state. Farmers in the state received 10kg of maize, 10kg of cowpea and 5kg of sorghum for planting. The seeds, which are high-yielding and require minimal need for fertiliser, were supplied by USAID.

    The farm inputs were distributed in four local governments of the state, which include: Gombi–725 IDP farmers; Michika–1,398; Madagali– 1,522 and Fufore–505.

    Malafa told journalists in Yola, the Adamawa State capital, that life had not been easy for the victims of Boko Haram in the state since they returned to their desolate villages.

    “Boko Haram burnt down everything, our homes, our foodstuff and our farms. So when we returned, there was nothing to do. I am a farmer and all of us in Guyaku are too. It has not been easy for us since we returned. So what these organisations are doing will help us. We will be able to plant our seeds and grow something. We are pleading for more assistance,” she said.

    The President and chairperson, AUN–API, Margee Ensign, said that the institution works with the community to find solutions to challenges faced by its people.

    “AUN has a founding mandate to light a candle rather than curse the darkness. This mandate was drawn from the vision of our founder who thought a university is not necessarily an ivory tower.

    So the so-called town-and-gown relationship was there from our very foundation. AUN works in and with the community to find solutions to challenges faced by its people,” she said.

    “From June 22 to 28, 4150 farmers, spread across four local governments in Adamawa state, each received bags of seeds and food to aid their recovery from the destruction Boko Haram brought on their communities and livelihoods.

    “The seeds and food distribution in the identified local governments (Gombi, Fufore, and Michika & Madagali) benefited the following number of identified IDPs who had farmland; Gombi–725 IDP Farmers; Michika–1,398; Madagali– 1,522; Fufore–505.

    “Because of the hunger and suffering still present in these areas, there was a possibility that these beneficiaries would simply eat these seeds instead of planting them. So the AUN/API also distributed the following supplies to support this seeds distribution initiative in all 4 local governments. Each of the benefiting IDP Farmers also received the following: 20kg Bags of Maize and 10kg bags of Beans. N200 (two hundred) Transportation support to get back to their various wards,” she said.

    Also, 20kg bags of maize and 10kg bags of beans were also distributed IDPs to cushion the effect of hunger. According to a member of the Seeds and Food Distribution, AUN – API, Charity Garba, more donations are expected in the coming days.

  • Buhari’s largesse boosts IDP rehab

    Buhari’s largesse boosts IDP rehab

    Amid the rebuilding of communities destroyed by Boko Haram, President Muhammadu Buhari ships out trailer-loads of grains to Internally Displaced Persons in Gombe State. VINCENT OHONBAMU reports

    The worst is over for people forced from their homes by the terror group. Boko Haram is in retreat, their spine broken by relentless Army fire. This necessitated the plan to rebuild the much devastated communities of the North, especially those on its eastern flank. But while this plan is on, President Muhammadu Buhari brought more cheer to those displaced in Gombe State. He shipped in trailer-loads of maize and rice, which were distributed to the expectant beneficiaries. The trailers delivered 15,000 50kg bags of  grains to 4,779 registered IDP camp households.

    The Minister of Environment, Dr. Amina I. Mohammed who represented President Buhari in presenting the food items at the state Operations Office of the National Emergency Management Agency in Gombe metropolis said the gesture was to acknowledge that the leadership of the country was with the IDPs in their plight. She said she hoped the gesture would alleviate what Gombe State has been doing to help.

    The Minister also acknowledged God’s intervention in the fight against Boko Haram and urged Nigerians to remain steadfast in praying for the return of peace and tranquility to the country as well as for God to grant President Buhari the strength and wisdom to accomplish his mission of bettering Nigeria.

    “We have started enjoying the fruits of Mr. President’s tireless efforts as insurgency is being contained and IDPs have started to return to their respective homes,” she added.

    Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo substantiated her views on the Islamist fighters’ fate when the Minister paid him a courtesy visit, and congratulated the President for drastically addressing the issue of insurgency in the Northeast.

    “I must say in the last one year, a lot of efforts have been put in place to contain the activities of Boko Haram and other terrorists group whose activities have drastically affected the growth and development of the Northeast.

    “With the various efforts that have been put in place, I think the days of these insurgencies are numbered. I want to [say] that we will as state do our best to support all the efforts of Mr. President in this regard.”

    A beneficiary of the presidential gesture, Adamu Jilda, a state government hospital worker from Gwoza in Borno State appreciated the gesture and other activities to help the IDPs. He said he and his family would feed on the maize because they need food, shelter and many other things as long as he left everything back at home has not been working since being in Gombe. He implored Mr. President to put more efforts on security and their returning back home while praying for him to end his tenure well.

    Abudulmumini Alhassan, also   from Gwoza, said they were happy to receive the gift.

    “Since arrival, we have not been troubled by anybody in any way; we have found peace in living among the people of Gombe state. The only additional request we have is how to further beef up security in our areas, because if this is done, we can return home,” he said.

    Another Gwoza beneficiary, Safia Hammasale, said, “We thank God, we thank Muhammadu Buhari and we are praying that God will bless him and bless us too. We will eat this, and would want to go back anytime the security issue in the area is fully settled. She said they enjoyed peace in the state, though they sometimes have problems with landlords over maintenance of houses and also co-tenants.

    Chairman of the IDPs, Alhaji Jato from Damboa Local Government in Borno State was full of thanks to God for the gesture and its timing. “We thank the President for being kind and knowing what to do per time. We are praying that God should grant him strength that God should enable him accomplish his good intentions for Nigeria,” he added.

    He said the IDPs who wanted to go back were constantly ready to do so as soon as their places were certified habitable in every sense. He would remain grateful to the people of Gombe for making their stay peaceful and exhibiting high level of kindness, peaceful coexistence and understanding towards them; to the extent that intermarriages now take place between amongst them.

    He particularly showed appreciation to the state Governor for opening camps for them, and subsequently closing the camps to free them of stigma and being used as cover by evil minded persons and also for paying their rents upon closing the camps. He equally appreciated the

    Emir of Gombe for his kind gestures in the past and the plans to do more for the IDPs

    “On the whole, for each individual with their wives and children, we now have around 31,000 IDPs remaining in Gombe officially. Many have gone back and many are still around that did not register with us,” he said. Dr. Dalami Arabs Rukujei, Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) once said the number of unregistered IDPs in Gombe state far outnumbered those on official records.

    Meanwhile, Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo has closed the IDP camps in the state, explaining that the closure was to avoid stigmatising the IDPs. The governor also said closing the camps would end the adverse conditions under which IDPs lived.

    Dankwambo said, “On the issue at stake (IDPs and their camp), we always have a different approach and that has resulted from maybe some of the studies that we have seen over time. When some studies were conducted in 2012 and 2013, we found out that 92% of the people who have been displaced in one way or the other and found themselves in Gombe were not prepared to go back, even if normalcy returned to their respective villages or towns or states.

    “And if that is the case, then we felt the need for camps may not be necessary. And also we had a lot of issues with camp – social, religious, cultural issues that are associated with people living in camps and we felt as people that: it is not good, for somebody to be identified with those kind of issues, especially in this part of the country where you can easily be identifiable by the circumstances you find yourself.

    “Also, there is the issue of some funny people or bad guys trying to find a way to mix up with the camp population and cause havoc in the state. As a result, we tried to dismantle the camps, arrange for housing accommodation for them with our people, so that they can integrate, and secondly, our people can monitor them to know those who actually came in peace or otherwise

    “And also very importantly, we want to make them, to a larger extent, forget the agonies that have befallen them. Substantial numbers of them have been integrated; we paid rent for them and we agreed that after some number of years, when they would have been established or integrated, they will continue to cater for themselves and be very good citizens of Gombe state, that is those who wish to remain behind.

     

     

  • Our Girls; A referendum on NASS structure, now ; PWD-style pothole filling please!; IDPs need care not control!

    Our Girls; A referendum on NASS structure, now ; PWD-style pothole filling please!; IDPs need care not control!

    Our Girls are still missing since April 15 2014. We pray and work for their release.

    President Buhari must call on Nigerians to stand with him against the National Assembly (NASS) if necessary to achieve his mandate. Nigerians must stand against their Jeep pathology and culture of arrogance. ‘SINATORS’ MUST HAVE ATTITUDINAL CHANGE OR WE WILL CHANGE THEM.

    Life is far more serious than the senators realise. They are increasingly fitting the bill of ‘Selfish Sinators’, SS. The Senate appears to be arrogant, insensitive and positively greedy. During the time of one debate in the Senate, I saw a woman with ectopic pregnancy, a child with typhoid, a youth with an eye damaged by a ‘dirty slap’, a woman with an abnormal baby with very short legs and arms, a pregnancy with a dead baby, a child with undescended testis, a boy with a ruptured spleen from an okada attack,  women with ovarian cancer, a man with breast cancer breast, a baby with no gall bladder, a girl with no uterus, a man with prostate cancer, many normal pregnancies, many patients with infertility and a man with a fatty liver. All this in one small clinic while the ‘Selfish Senate’ and apparently ‘Dishonourable House of UnRepresentatives’, as some prefer to call them, appear to lord it over a sick country they helped to try to kill with personal and collective recklessness and a rudderless self-first legislative leadership.

    CAN THEY ALL BE RECALLED OR AT LEAST ALL BE VOTED OUT AT THE NEXT ELECTION to be replaced by good materials? Perhaps we have enough time before 2019 to work establish a government willing to have a ‘100 Day/year PART-TIME LEGISLATURE WITH A MODEST SITTING ALLOWANCES’ and ONE HOUSE not two? NIGERIA REALLY NEEDS AND DEMANDS A REFERENDUM ON THE NEED AND RESTRUCTURE OF NASS WHICH would quickly prove that Nigerians would prefer TO ABOLISH THE SENATE IN FAVOUR OF ONE HOUSE –THE HOUSE OF REAL REPRESENTATIVES.  The Buhari’s ‘medicine for Nigeria’s corruption disease’ is not going down well with the NASS but Nigeria would already have died if President Buhari had not won the last election to administer the ‘anti-corruption’ emetic, for vomiting stolen funds. Unfortunately, NASS has not responded with distinguishing and honourable legislative leadership in cutting SAP, -Salaries Allowances Perks and even defended purchase of 36 jeeps while standing on ‘lame excuse ‘they were in the 2015 budget’ while the country sinks. Do they think? Only an idiot with a death wish would drive those vehicles out of Senate as they would be like waving a red flag before the National Bull of unpaid workers and poverty-struck citizens living in darkness and fuellessness.

    Hurray! Some African countries are working to wipe out malaria by 2020. WOW and as great a victory as the elimination of Smallpox. Look forward to a Nigeria without malaria! Naturally Nigeria will bring up the rear of ‘Malaria Free Countries’. Of course we have the best chance yet of limiting fraud in the malaria and other health programmes under President Buhari. He has effectively changed corruption at source by turning off the budget gravy train of corruption in the ministries and being personally ‘corruption free’ thus infecting all his staff and many others with the  good ‘Corruption Free Virus’.

    Travel in Nigeria is very, very dangerous and I am not talking about falling foul of Police or Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) or Fulani herdsmen/cow road attach. The normal road danger, people die on roads worldwide but in Nigeria that danger is compounded by high pothole rates and high speed and the high dependence of very unreliable tyres which can burst, tear or otherwise disappoint by getting caught and cut in ragged edged or deep potholes or even too high tyre pressure. Many roads have been farmed out to highly-placed traditional rulers, politicians-turned contractors who have all serially failed Nigerians resulting in their unnecessary deaths. If this is true, these ‘untouchables’ did not care much for travellers.

    I saw a report that the Ilorin road was so bad the President Buhari in a stroke of Solomon-esque wisdom insisted that the contract awardee came to see him in Abuja by road, not air. No matter how ‘safe’ you are in that speeding vehicle, your safety actually depends only on the safety levels of your tyres, the next driver, the next vehicle and the SIZE, DEPTH, POSITION, PRIOR WARNING OF THE NEXT POTHOLE. Your life should be worth more to government than the few thousand naira to fill a pothole. Sorry OOO! NIGERIANS TRIVIALISE THE DANGERS OF TRAVEL leaving it all to God. Among many recent deaths we now add six doctors going to one of numerous and dare I say UNNECESSARY compulsory travel zonal meeting connected with their professional body. Now they and other families are destroyed, orphans made and widows weeping endlessly. Life is so dangerous and politicians trivialise it so much. They have the power but THINK POTHOLE-FILLING IS UNNECESSARY or should await a budget. They prefer the corruption of never-fulfilled contracts to old style Public Works Department, PWD units everywhere –mass employment! Even children think life is cheap in Nigeria.

    Breaking News: 10,000IDPs ’break out of camps’. How can they break out of camps? Are they prisoners in their own country?? No! This is a criminal indictment on Nigeria’s machinery to care for its displaced persons who need care, not control! Shame on our care machinery!!

  • IDPs eat 1,800 bags of rice daily, says Shettima

    IDPs eat 1,800 bags of rice daily, says Shettima

    INTERNALLY Displaced Persons (IDPs) in parts of Borno State consume about 1,800 bags of 50 kilogrammes of rice daily, Governor Kashim Shettima said yesterday in Abuja.

    He was delivering an address at the first annual Dialogue on Rebuilding Peace in Borno State, organised by an advocacy group, AOA Global, in collaboration with Borno State at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel.

    Shettima highlighted what he called food emergency, following the influx of IDPs trapped by insurgents, before they were freed by the military.

    He said: “As we speak, we are battling a crisis of feeding the mass of humanity in Borno. The military has rescued communities trapped, due to the presence of Boko Haram insurgents on certain routes. This has led to a mass exodus of IDPs from these communities to emergency camps.

    “In Borno today, about 1,800 bags of 50 kilogrammes of rice, which constitute three trailers of 600 bags each, are required daily to cater for IDPs across the state. This does not include ingredients, such as tomatoes, vegetable oil, beans to balance carbohydrate, onions, salt and other elements. For our regular camps, 984 bags of rice are consumed daily, based on a Data Tracking Matrix of the International Organisation on Migration, working with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA).

    This figure of 984 978 bags is for the camps in Maiduguri, Jere, Dikwa, Bama and Damboa. For Maiduguri and Jere, 787 bags of rice are consumed daily by the 152,000 IDPs in 17 camps and two relief points at Madinatu and Muna garage, where food items are distributed to IDPs living outside camps in Maiduguri.

    “For Dikwa, which has 75,000 displaced persons, 101 bags are required daily. Bama requires 50 bags daily for 32,000 displaced persons, while Damboa requires 40 bags daily. These are as per the Data Tracking Mtarix of the International Organisation on Migration.”

    There are areas where interventions are made on bi-weekly basis. In Gwoza for instance, two trucks totalling 1,200 bags of rice are conveyed every two weeks, meaning 85 bags daily. In Banki, 1,200 bags in two trucks are conveyed every two weeks.

    “At Ngala where we have 7,000 persons in camps and 60,000 living around communities with no source of food, a minimum of 140 bags of 50 kilogrammes of rice are consumed daily. In Monguno, which has 48,000 IDPs from both Monguno and Marte, 60 bags are required daily; in Baga and Kroskawa, 58 bags are required daily for 33,000 IDPs. In Sabon-Gari, 21,000 IDPs need 40 bags daily, while Nganzai has the least, which is 1,300 displaced persons. Besides population, consumption is also dependent on the ratio of women and children, who consume less than men.”

     

  • Dambazzau: why IDPs are not cleared to return home

    Dambazzau: why IDPs are not cleared to return home

    Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) cannot return home yet because it is not safe, Interior Minister Lt. Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazzau (rtd) said yesterday.

    He said although most towns had been recaptured from insurgents in the Northeast, security threats still remained. The government, he said, would ensure that the places devastated by the insurgents were made safer for people to return.

    Dambazzau, represented by a director in the ministry, Noah Auta, spoke in Lagos at a media roundtable with the theme: ‘Developing effective police framework to address the situation of victims of Boko Haram in Nigeria’.

    It was organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), in collaboration with the Ford Foundation.  It was chaired by a  former Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Ayotunde Phillips.

    “No IDPs has been authorised to go back home. Although towns have been liberated by the military, some places still have landmines,” he said.

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode advocated the formulation of a more effective policy to rehabilitate victims of terrorism and IDPs.

    Ambode said as the military makes steady progress in liberating territories under Boko Haram stronghold, the task of rebuilding the communities and re-integrating the victims requires a well thought-out policy framework.

    The governor, represented by a Director in the Ministry of Special Duties, Mrs Bisi Shonibare, said re-integrating victims of terror, especially children, women and the elderly, would require a systematic process to be implemented in phases.

    Activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), represented by Olanrewaju Suraju, said corruption contributed to the inability to defeat Boko Haram quicker.

    Justice Phillips, who chaired the event, said ridding the country of terrorism requires the support of all, adding that the fight should not be left to government alone.

  • NEMA gives food items to IDPs

    NEMA gives food items to IDPs

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said it is distributing food items to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State.

    NEMA Northeast Information Officer Malam Abdulkadir Ibrahim, in a statement in Maiduguri, said: “The Northeast Office of NEMA has begun the distribution of food and non-food items to IDPs with special needs in camps in Maiduguri.

    “They will cater for IDPs, who require special care like diabetes patients, babies and nursing mothers.

    “The food items distributed include cereal formula for babies, milk, biscuits, custard, Milo beverage, wheat, rice, soya plus and kunun tsamiya.

    “The non-food items include slippers, blankets, plates, spoons, vaseline oil, soap, detergents and dignity kits for lactating mothers.”

    He added that the provision of the items would not affect the supply of food for the upkeep of the IDPs by NEMA.

    According to him, the distribution is not withstanding the Memorandum of Understanding by the agency and the Borno State government.

    Ibrahim said NEMA supplied the food items required for feeding IDPs, while the government provided condiments and others for cooking.

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said it is distributing food items to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno State.

    NEMA Northeast Information Officer Malam Abdulkadir Ibrahim, in a statement in Maiduguri, said: “The Northeast Office of NEMA has begun the distribution of food and non-food items to IDPs with special needs in camps in Maiduguri.

    “They will cater for IDPs, who require special care like diabetes patients, babies and nursing mothers.

    “The food items distributed include cereal formula for babies, milk, biscuits, custard, Milo beverage, wheat, rice, soya plus and kunun tsamiya.

    “The non-food items include slippers, blankets, plates, spoons, vaseline oil, soap, detergents and dignity kits for lactating mothers.”

    He added that the provision of the items would not affect the supply of food for the upkeep of the IDPs by NEMA.

    According to him, the distribution is not withstanding the Memorandum of Understanding by the agency and the Borno State government.

    Ibrahim said NEMA supplied the food items required for feeding IDPs, while the government provided condiments and others for cooking.