The Nation Newspaper

Tag: IDPs

  • Over 100 IDPs benefit from NAF’s medical outreach

    At least 100 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) yesterday benefitted from a free medical service organised by the Nigerian Air Force  (NAF) in Lagos.

    The medical outreach which was approved by the Chief of the Air Staff  (CAS) Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, was part of the week long aeromedical evacuation and medical deployment exercise organised by the NAF in collaboration with the United States’ (US) Air Force.

    The medical outreach featured free malaria, blood pressure, eye, HIV and hypertitis checkup, consultations, prescriptions and provision of drugs.

    Free eye glasses, treated mosquito nets and food items were also handed over to the IDPs, as medical personnel counselled beneficiaries on the need for personal and environmental hygiene.

    Abubakar, who was represented at the closing ceremony of the African Partnership Flight (APF) exercise, by the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Logistics Command, Air Vice Marshal Ibrahim Yahaya, said the exercise was to assure Nigerians of the service’s commitment to safe lives.

    According to him, the APF was designed to build strong partnership and foster regional stability and security through formal alliances, partnership and exchange of ideas among African air forces.

    He said: “I strongly believe that the specific objectives of this five-day event which culminated in a free medical outreach to about 100 IDPs have been largely achieved.

    “I hope you will utilise the knowledge acquired to enhance the present effort at providing appropriate medical care in and outside the theatre of operation in the sub-region particularly to counter insurgency operations in the Lake Chad region and Northeastern Nigeria.

    “I particularly wish to express my gratitude to the United State Air Forces Europe Command for selecting Nigeria to co-host this event and to our sister African countries for coming here to share their experiences,” he said.

    In his remark, the Permanent Secretary (PS) Ministry of Defence, Danjuma Sheni said the programme was aimed at capacity building and mutual cooperation.

    He said the success in overcoming various security challenges confronting African countries depended on joint operation with neighbouring and allied countries.

    Sheni said: “This is more so as the enemy in today’s wars appear to be largely the same, terrorism, and its range of operation cuts across boundaries of nations. Immediate examples are the Boko Haram and Al-Shabbab insurgencies in the North East Nigeria and East Africa respectively.”

  • Ebonyi distributes N19m relief items to IDPs

    Ebonyi State government has distributed relief materials worth N19million to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Ebouwana camp, Afikpo South Local Government.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the beneficiaries are victims of an intra-communal clash in Itinam, Ebouwana community.

    The local government Chairman, Mr. Eni-Uduma Chima, who distributed the items on behalf of the state government, said the gesture was to alleviate IDPs’ suffering.

    He said: “We are here to distribute relief items from the government to lessen hardship faced by our brothers and sisters displaced by intra- boundary conflict among the Itinam of Ebouwana.

  • WFP begins transportation of food to IDPs

    WFP begins transportation of food to IDPs

    The World Food Programme (WFP) has commenced transportation of food assistance to the northeast, where people displaced by Boko Haram violence need urgent food assistance.

    The WFP said it has already begun moving the first batch of rice donated by Nigerian government, which contributed 5,000 metric tonnes of rice and pledged a further 2,000 metric tons of millet.

    “This donation once again testifies to the quality of relations between WFP and Nigeria,” WFP’s interim Country Director, Ronald Sibanda, said in a statement issued by the United Nations.

    Sibanda noted that the assistance by the UN humanitarian agency fighting hunger would help feed nearly half-a-million internally displaced people in the conflict-ravaged northeast.

    “The United States will cover the associated costs of getting the donated rice to those displaced in the hardest-hit states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, as part of its 100 million dollars contribution to WFP’s Nigeria response.

    “Nigeria’s crisis has spilled over borders, leaving millions in the broader Lake Chad Basin region uncertain of where their meal is coming from.

    “Experts have warned that without sufficient and timely humanitarian assistance, northeast Nigeria risks tipping into famine,” he said.

    He said since launching operations in 2016, WFP has rapidly expanded its offer of food, nutrition and cash to reach more than a million people a month.

    NAN

  • Communal clash IDPs get relief in Ebonyi

    Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi has distributed relief materials worth N20million to persons displaced by the intra-communal dispute between the people of Ogiri and Okporojo in Afikpo South Local Government Area of the state.

    The two neighbouring communities have been locked in land dispute which claimed the lives of over 40 persons when fighting broke out in May with properties including houses worth millions of naira destroyed.

    The relief materials included cartons of noodles, bags of rice, cartons of wrappers, and mattresses, among others.

    In addition to the relief materials, the government also gave each household affected in the crisis N100, 000 to the over 121 households.

    Handing over the relief materials to the IDPs at government house, Abakaliki,  Governor Umahi represented by his Deputy Dr. Kelechi Igwe called on the over 130 communities in the state to live in peace.

    He said the distribution of the relief materials will) be the last time the government will be intervening in intra crisis.

    He noted that the government was spending much in maintaining security of lives and property of the citizenry and warned that it will not tolerate anyone or community frustrating the government’s efforts.

    “We are doing a lot to change the state for good and also touch lives. What security is taking from this government is so much that any other government would have collapsed because in all our border communities, there are crisis and the government has been providing security in all these flash points. The government ensures the welfare of the security agencies in these areas,” Umahi said.

    The Chairman of the local government, Eni Uduma Chima who commended the government for the gesture, said normalcy has returned to the two warring communities.

    Eni Uduma Chima who lamented the condition of the affected village in terms of infrastructure and welfare added that the present administration has begun the reconstruction of the houses in the area to ensure that the people were comfortable and repositioned to face the challenges ahead of them.

    Chima further noted that security personnel were fully mobilized within and around the affected village to ensure peace and order adding that his office would ensure that the relief materials were duly distributed to the IDPs.

  • Ebonyi distributes relief materials to IDPs

    Ebonyi distributes relief materials to IDPs

    Ebonyi state Governor, David Umahi on Monday distributed relief materials worth N20million to Internally Displaced Persons in the intra-communal dispute between the people of Ogiri and Okporojo, Afikpo South local government area of the state.

    The two neighbouring communities have been locked in land dispute which claimed the lives of over 40 persons when fighting broke out in May this year with properties including houses worth millions of naira destroyed.

    The relief materials include cartons of noodles, bags of rice, cartons or wrappers, sleeping mattresses among others.

    In addition to the relief materials, the government also gave each household affected in the crisis N100, 000 to the over 121 households.

    Handing over the relief materials to the IDPs at government house, Abakaliki, Governor Umahi represented by his Deputy Dr. Kelechi Igwe called on the over 130 communities in the state to live in peace.

    He said the distribution of the relief materials will) be the last time the government will be intervening in intra crisis.

    He noted that the government was spending much in maintaining security of lives and property of the citizenry and warned that it will not tolerate anyone or community frustrating the government’s
    efforts.

    “We are doing a lot to change the state for good and also touch lives. What security is taking from this government is so much that any other government would have collapsed because in all our border communities, there are crisis and the government has been providing security in all these flash points. The government ensures the welfare of the security agencies in these areas”, Umahi said.

    The Chairman of the local government, Eni Uduma Chima who commended the government for the gesture, said normalcy has returned to the two warring communities. 

    Eni Uduma Chima who lamented over the condition of the affected village in terms of infrastructure and welfare added that the present administration has begun the reconstruction of the houses in the area to ensure that the people were comfortable and repositioned to face the challenges ahead of them.

    Chima further noted that security personnel were fully mobilized within and around the affected village to ensure peace and order adding that his office would ensure that the relief materials were duly distributed to the IDPs.

  • Boko Haram IDPs: Fadama to the rescue

    Boko Haram IDPs: Fadama to the rescue

    With Boko Haram largely neutralised, the federal government, through the Fadama financing scheme, has provided farm inputs and food for Gombe State-based 2,680 persons displaced by the terror group. VINCENT OHONBAMU reports

    The sting of the terror group is all but gone. After swooping on their villages, killing many of their relatives and forcing others to flee their homes, Boko Haram insurgents thought they had vanquished their victims. Indeed, they wreaked much havoc, but the displaced survivors have seen the table turn. The terrorists have been essentially neutralised, while the persons they displaced are being rehabilitated. In Gombe, the 2,680-strong IDPs community and their hosts have been given farm tools and other equipment including food items. The intervention, coming under the federal government’s Fadama III Additional Financing Programme, is to help the IDPs grow their food, put their lives together and get Boko Haram out of their minds. In modern parlance, the mediation is to empower them.

    No fewer than 2,080 of the 2,680 IDPs and host community households identified in Gombe state currently benefit from the distribution of farm and non-farm inputs to the tune of N353,315,351.

    Though a component of the Northeast Initiative aimed at rehabilitating and rebuilding the sub-region, this particular initiative is called Northeast Security and Livelihood Support Project.

    It is meant to further stimulate and rekindle interest in agriculture while giving the Boko Haram victims a new lease of life. The gesture is equally extended to members of the host communities because the presence of the IDPs who were not included in government’s original plan for the population has strained and drained their lives.

    Yakubu Ibn Muhammad, Communication Officer, Fadama III AF II Programme in Gombe said the aim of the project is to give the IDPs sustainable livelihood and make them self-reliant in their present locations, instead of continuing to give them food items, which is not sustainable.

    However, the package comes with food items, which is sufficient to serve each household for at least two months. This is to encourage and sustain them as they wait for the harvest.

    The Communication Officer said Fadama is intervening in four aspects of agriculture based on the needs and interests indicated by beneficiaries. He identified these areas as crop farming, fish farming, poultry farming and livestock breeding.

    He said Fadama began by sensitising the host communities on the need to assist the IDPs with portions of land for farming activities and equally encouraged the IDPs to cultivate at least a half hectare of land.

    The crop farmers were supported with quick maturing treated hybrid seeds of maize or rice, knapsack sprayers, and NPK and Urea brands of fertilisers while dry season farmers in addition got water pumps, water delivery hosts and suction pipes to suck water out of shallow water tables, where available.

    Those with interest in fish farming were further categorised into two. The ones that fish in rivers were given fishing boats, nets, gears, hooks, baskets, harpoons, etc, while the ones that raise fish in ponds got fish fingerlings, feeds and medications among other necessities.

    Poultry farmers got three weeks old chicks, feeds and medications while those into livestock breeding were given four small ruminants – either one he-goat/billy-goat and three she-goats or one ram and three sheep, depending on their choice. They were also given animal medications.

    Ibn Mohammed said a household in Fadama work plan comprised five to 15 members while 40 households make up a community. The 2,680 households earmarked to benefits from Fadama III AF II programme are spread across 67 communities across Gombe State.

    He said the Project started in the last quarters of 2016, but became disbursement effective on April 11, 2017 and never looked back from thence forth

    Hajiya Habiba Mohammed, State Project Coordinator of the Fadama urged the staff of the agency to fast track the disbursement across the entire 11 local government areas of Gombe state as there is no time to waste

    She said the first disbursement exercise went to 600 households in addition to ongoing one being extended to 2,080 households makes it a total of 2,680 benefitting households as captured in their plan.

    Most of these communities have since planted and are looking forward to a bumper harvest. For those that were given small ruminants, the story is very encouraging,” she said.

    A community leader, the Bala Waja, Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed Danjuma of Waja chiefdom commended the Fadama III AF project for positive impact on the lives of the people.

    He commended the agency for carrying along the traditional rulers in the implementation of the project and advocated for sustainability of the project, which he said has been benefiting the rural populace, even before now.

    Chairman of IDPs at Bajoga, headquarters of Funakaye local government area of Gombe state, Ali Yana who hails from Ajingin in Damboa LGA of Borno state said the intervention would go a long way in enhancing their quality of lives as IDPs.

    ‘These farm inputs are better for us because we can now have sustainable source of food; we appreciate President Muhammadu Buhari and the executing agency, Fadama for giving us a means of livelihood and a means towards self-reliance,” he said.

    At Biri Bolawa in Nafada local government area, Chairman of the IDPs, Bappah Maidoya from Kagi in Benishek local government of Borno state thanked the providers of the intervention package and Fadama for ensuring that the materials reached the targeted beneficiaries.

    He commended the Federal Government for the wonderful initiative intended to make their lives better and assured Fadama that they would make judicious use of the items.

    He nevertheless expressed the yearning to return home, saying: “if peace is restored today, I would be on my way, except there’s no means of transportation. In that regards, we are urging the Federal Government to speed up the process of rebuilding our land”

    Also anxious to go home is 27 years old Chairman of Sangaru IDPs Community from Jalam in Bauchi state. he had been a sweet potato farmer at home, but will now engage in rice farming. He said he would have to keep his items for the right time because dry season farming is where his interest and passion lie.

    He is presently rewriting his school certificate exams with the intention of advancing to study medicine. He urges all IDPs, especially the younger ones to use what comes to the judiciously and keep on holding on to their dreams

    For Aisha Bulama, a beneficiary from Talala, also at Ajigin in Damboa, Gombe state is home now. At over 60, there is no point going back home again said the widowed mother of five who lost her husband before the insurgency started.

    She thanked all those that made the gesture possible and prayed for the quick recovery of President Buhari, even as she expressed confidence about good harvest at the end of the season, despite that the empowerment items seemed a little late on arrival.

    An overwhelmed deaf and dumb, Sambo Ahmed Bajoga who witnessed the disbursement exercise at Bajoga wrote:  My name is Sambo Ahmed Bajoga, I am appreciating you. I am a dumb and deaf person, so why don’t I get some?”

    Fadama III AF is a tripartite project bankrolled mainly by the World Bank and Federal Government of Nigeria while the state government also provided some minimal fund.

  • NEMA increases supply of food to IDPs

    NEMA increases supply of food to IDPs

    The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said the quantity food ration for IDPs per household has been increased from 4.5kg to 8.4kg which will be consumed for 30 days

    The Director General of NEMA Engr. Mustapha Maihaja disclosed this to journalist after rounding up his visit to  Banki, Bama Local Government area of Borno State to inspect the living conditions of the returnees from Cameroon  in the area and inspect the on-going Federal Government Food Intervention Program of the North East.

    “We have critically observed the situation and what we have done is to double what some INGOs are giving to the IDPs. What we are giving them now is 8.4kg as against the 4.5kg they were collecting. The standard practice all over the world is 10.6kg so I think we are not doing badly in that regards.

    “We have also discussed with World Food Program who have also increased their ration to 8.4kg and we have a better synergy now. What I mean is NEMA does not go to the communities where WFP is distributing food so as to avoid duplications,” Engr. Maihaja informed.

    Engr. Maihaja disclosed that the situation in Banki requires urgent attention because Banki is home to over 46,000 IDPs who are returning from the Republic of Cameroon, hence his visit to get first-hand information of the situation.

    He stated that the FG government is worried over the manner in which the returnees enter Banki and therefore has to address the lapses associated with their living conditions including, shelter, food etc, while the next step which will comprise the Bama Pilot Initiative will focus on restoring the livelihood of the returnees after the return of Civil Authorities in the liberated areas.

    As a way of keeping to his promise to ensure that displaced people no longer queue for food, Engr. Maihaja told all the IDPs in Banki who were gathered at a distribution venue to go back to their houses as NEMA will deliver their food door-to-door.

    He latter presented some food and non-food items to some families in their tents.

    While explaining the measures put in place to avoid any diversion of the food by unscrupulous elements, Engr. Maihaja said, “Our security monitoring system for the distribution of the food is robust. All trucks moving at the point of loading are put under surveillance with a tracker right from the point of loading through the states to the final destination from NEMA head office and police force headquarters through the states police command that provide escort for the trucks.

    “For instance; as soon as the vehicles leaves, it is been monitored by the Police Force Headquarters and from my office, if it gets to the state, the police escort will hand it over to that state police command until the food gets to the final destination.

    “Apart from the tracking system, all the food brought into Maiduguri is in the safe custody of the Theatre Commander, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru and the army is providing security for the smooth distribution of the food especially in difficult areas like Banki where we are now,” Engr. Maihaja informed.

    While briefing the D G NEMA on the security situation of the area, the commanding Officer 152 Battalion Lt. Col. P Elayo informed that the town was liberated from the hands of Boko Haram after their arrival in September 2014.

    Lt. Col Elayo informed the battalion was responsible for the feeding and medical treatment of over 375, inhabitants that were left in the town up to the month of March 2016 when INGOs like UNICEF, IOM, WHO, WFP began to access the area to supply food and Medicare supplies to the IDPs.

    The Nation observed that the DG NEMA’s entourage also comprised of a Presidential Team working on the restoration of civil authorities which took assessment of towns in Bama including Kumshe etc.

  • FCT guarantees more education for IDPs

    The FCT administration has said it will continue to provide access to basic education to the children and other vulnerable persons at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the FCT, pending when their return to their original communities.

    The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello disclosed this in Abuja while receiving a delegation from the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRMI).

    Bello disclosed that the FCT Administration has made available its vocation and rehabilitation centres for use by NGOs and other relevant government agencies in the FCT for the training of internally displaced persons to at least equip them with the basic economic skills while they are still housed at the IDP camps.

    According to the minister, “We have tried using our relationship with a number of NGOs to make sure that we concentrate on giving the young boys and girls basic education that they require so that by the time they move back to their communities, at least they would not have missed out too much.”

    “Within the FCT, we have a number of vocational institutions that we usually make the facilities available to the agencies of government that may want to use them to provide some form of intervention or some kind of skill acquisition training. So, in order for every agency not to duplicate by establishing its own vocational centre, I will advise that your organisation leverage on what is already on ground because you are going to cater for people who are really not going to be permanent. All you need to do is to give them some semblance of stability before they move on,” he said.

    The minister in a statement issues by his  Special Assistant (Media) to FCT Minister, Abubakar Sani charged the NCRMI and similar agencies, including those in the FCT to really assist these people, especially the young ones, noting that most of them have missed out of school for four to five sessions.

    “That impact will not be seen in our communities and their communities until many years down the road. Then you will realise that a certain age group missed out, either in terms of employment or in terms of getting into tertiary institutions.

    “With respect to your request for a transit camp for deportees, we would look into the master plan, and we believe there should be something that could accommodate this so that if for any reason deportees are brought to Abuja for instance, you can have a place where you can keep them, do some medical checks on them and then try to work out how to link them up with their final places of abode. That is something we can work on and we should be able to make land available to sort this out”.

    Earlier in her remarks, the Federal Commissioner for the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRMI), Hajiya Sadiya Umar Faruk said the Commission has been receiving Nigerian nationals who have been returned from various parts of the world, stressing that their intervention for this group has been focused on return, readmission as well as integration to at least to ensure that the returnees are brought back in dignity and safety and are able to settle back into the society so as to contribute to the development of such communities.

    She said the Commission is currently engaged in providing economic and employment opportunities for the displaced persons living in camps “because we believe that poverty has contributed immensely to the internal displacements especially in the North East. We are committed to keying into the recovery plan envisioned by President Muhammadu Buhari to alleviate the sufferings of our persons of concern while protecting their dignity.

    “We realised that we cannot do it alone without reaching to those that are widely known for their empathy to the plight of the vulnerable persons, hence our coming to the FCT Administration to explore areas of collaboration in terms of providing skills for the IDPs and transit camps particularly for deportees.”

  • ‘IDPs to remain in camp till communities are safe’

    The Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNI) has said Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are still in camps because some of the communities they should return to are not safe.

    The IDPs will remain in camps until their communities become safe and habitable, the committee added.

    The committee’s Vice Chairman Tijjani Tumsah, spoke to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja. He said the committee will allow IDPs return to their communities “only when it has been certified safe for return”.

    His words: “Efforts are on to rebuild and restore homes of the IDPs, and they can only return when all those places are safe; the number of people returning to their communities is of course increasing.

    “As we have more military successes, people now move back to their homes. We have to continuously prepare to ensure that once they get back home, they are safe and can resume their livelihood.

    “Most of the people are farmers and farming resumption requires that you are safe. When you go to the farm, a lot of these areas are still not safe for that to happen; so they continue to stay in camps.”

    Tumsah hinted that the committee was considering creating new settlements in secured areas since the number of people returning to liberated communities was increasing.

  • 300 IDPs to enjoy NAF’s free surgical intervention

    300 IDPs to enjoy NAF’s free surgical intervention

    The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has begun another round of surgical intervention scheme for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Bama, Dalori and Banki camps, all in Borno State.

    The NAF authority, however, said the number of beneficiaries might increase because over 250 IDPs in Banki alone need varying degrees of medical attention.

    It added that the surgical intervention scheme followed series of medical outreach programmes organised by NAF in the affected camps.

    The scheme covers general surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, as well as ophthalmology.

    A statement by the Director of Public Relations and Information, NAF Headquarters, Abuja, Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, noted that the first set of surgeries, mostly eye surgeries, being the most prevalent, was performed at the Medical Centre of NAF’s 105 Composite Group in Maiduguri, last Saturday

    The statement reads: “The scheme, which is the brainchild of the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, is to enable NAF win the ‘hearts and minds’ of IDPs.

    “The NAF’s soft power approach in fighting insurgency, in addition to its military campaign, has impacted greatly on the IDPs and has given them a sense of belonging.

    “The NAF’s Chief of Medical Services, Air Vice Marshal Saleh Shinkafi, said the surgical intervention scheme was part of NAF’s humanitarian service to the IDPs, towards providing them with the opportunity to have normal and productive lives again.

    “According to him, about 300 surgical cases were initially outlined for the seven-day programme, which is expected to cover 100 IDPs each from Dalori, Bama and Banki IDP camps.

    “However, there were indications that up to 250 IDPs in Banki alone required surgical interventions, and the period of the exercise might be extended to cater for the additional needs.”