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Tag: IDPs

  • ‘IDPs in Plateau to return to ancestral homes before Dec. 31’

    Plateau residents displaced by the recent skirmishes in some parts of the state would return to their ancestral homes before Dec. 31, Maj. Gen Augustine Agundu, Commander, Special Task Force (STF), has said.
    Agundu gave the assurance on Wednesday in Jos, at the launch of Phase II of the “Plateau Peace Project” initiated by the Plateau Peace Building Agency (PPBA).
    The project is tagged “Consolidating Mechanism For Sustainable Cooperation and Transformation of Farmer/Herder Conflict”.
    “From my interaction with the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), they are all looking forward to a return to their ancestral homes. All they want is a guarantee that they will be protected.
    “It is my resolve that they will all be back in their original abodes before the end of December.
    “It is not time for long talk; it is a time for real action and we are ready for that, in our efforts to ensure that the IDPs are back home and happy,” he said.
    Agundu said that the STF had identified communities that were deserted out of fear of being attack

    Read also: Buhari reassures on credible 2019 elections

    “Houses in such communities are still intact; so, their residents will be the first to be resettled,” he said.
    Agundu said that Plateau residents were tired of incessant crisis and wanted to live in peace.
    “We have met all stakeholders and urged them to play their roles by guiding the youths to be part of the peace building process,” he said.
    Mr Joseph Lengmang,  Director-General, PPBA, said that the second phase of the project was to consolidate on the gains made in the first phase of the project funded by the United States Embassy in Abuja.
    Lengmang said that much still needed to be done to sustain the fragile peace in the state, regretting that emerging conflict trends were threatening gains already made toward a stable Plateau.
    Representatives of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Plateau chapter, and Berom Educational and Cultural Organisation, offered suggestions on the path to permanent peace in Plateau. (NAN)

  • Flood: NEMA distributes relief materials to IDPs in Niger

    Mr Mustapha Maihaja, Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), on Monday supervised the distribution of food items to about 480 persons displaced by flood in Niger.

    NAN reports that most of the IDPs in the camp were displaced by flood from Gungu community in Shiroro Local Government Area of the state.

    Maihaja said that the exercise was in continuation of the distribution of relief materials, which was flagged off by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in the state in September.

    He noted that the gesture was to bring succour to the IDPs, following one of the most devastating flood disasters in the country.

    “It has been a very challenging situation; but here we are today providing succour to those affected by the disaster.

    “We thank you very much for your patience and understanding and the way you have conducted yourselves.

    “It makes the job a little easier and we appreciate you for that,” he added

    The NEMA chief said that the agency had carried out the need assessments of the IDPs in the state for the federal government assistance.

    Read Also: NEMA counters House of Reps Committee with “hard facts”

    “We also like to commend the efforts of the Niger state government which has been very supportive.

    “All the success registered was a collaborative effort of both the Federal and state governments.

    “We pray to the Almighty God that this kind of disaster does not happen again.

    “We assure you that after the water has finally receded, the federal government will respond with damaged needs assessment, whereby we will come up with details of the destruction and plan for reconstruction and recovery of all lost property,” he added.

    Maihaja disclosed that the distributed items comprised 80 bags of rice, 40 bags of beans, 40 bags of maize, 8 bags of sugar, vegetable oil, tin tomatoes, milk, sugar and salt.

    A cross section of beneficiaries who spoke to NAN, lauded the federal government for coming to their aid.

    Mr Ramanskep Isaac, one of the IDPs commended the people in the community for the love and concern showed to them, adding that they had been living in peace with their host since their arrival.

    Maihaja also inspected the re-settlement site for the IDPs and the agency’s Emergency Operation Center in the state.

  • INEC begins display of voters’ register in Borno

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Wednesday that it had commenced display of voters’ register in the 27 Local Government Areas of Borno.

    The state’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Muhammad Ibrahim, told the News Agency of Nigerian Maiduguri that the commission had also embarked on the distribution of Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs).

    Ibrahim disclosed that the exercise was conducted simultaneously at the councils, wards and Polling Units (PUs) in the area.

    He said the exercise was also conducted at Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) for the registered voters in Abadam, Guzamala and Marte Local Government Councils, due to security challenges.

    Ibrahim noted that the voters’ register display exercise was designed for claims, objections and weed out under-age voters, to enable the commission make possible corrections.

    Read Also: ASUU Strike paralyses Academic activities in UNIBEN

    According to him, the commission has so far registered more than 2.3 million eligible voters in the state.

    Ibrahim explained that more than 1.8 million voters registered during the 2015 elections, while more than 500,000 voters were captured in the
    continuous voter registration from April 2017 to date.

    He stated that the commission has distributed more than 90,000 of the 179,000 PVCs supplied to the state in May 2018.

    “Over 100,000 PVCs are yet to be collected; we are also expecting delivery of additional 100,000 cards for onward distribution to the electorate in the state,” he said.

  • Anambra flood: IDPs camps record 17 births in 3weeks

    No fewer than 17 child births were recorded at various  Holding Centres provided by the Anambra State Government for people displaced by floodwaters over the last three weeks.

    Health Commissioner  Joe Akabuike, announced this while receiving a team of medical doctors from Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Anambra State Chapter, who were on medical outreach at Aguleri and Atani Holding Centres.

    He said of two of the six women were delivered of their babies through Caesarean Section (CS) at the Comprehensive Health Centre (CHC), Atani.

    Akabuike added that government had installed adequate measures to care for pregnant women and others at various centres.

    Also speaking, the State Hospital Administrator, Dr Richmond Achugbu, during a confirmatory visit to the centres and medical facility, said 11 nursing mothers were quartered at Central School Odekpe holding centre.

    He added that they all had Spontaneous Vatex Delivery (SVD), noting, that they and their babies were doing fine.

    According to Achugbu, pregnant women at the holding centres with health challenges are receiving Medicare at Comprehensive Health Centre, Atani.

    He added that a team of medical personnel had been assigned to offer assistance in different areas of needs at the centres.

     

  • Banditry: Over 6000 IDPs return home in Zamfara

    The Acting Director, Defence Information, Brig.-Gen. John Agim, says over 6000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have returned home in Zamfara.

    Agim disclosed this while speaking with journalists in Gusau on Friday.

    He said that the return of peace and security in Maradu, Shinkafi and Zurmi local government areas led to the massive return of the IDPs to their respective villages.

    Agim said farming and other economic activities had picked up again as bandits no longer had freedom to operate in such areas.

    He said that Zamfara which was once bedeviled by incessant killings due to banditry, cattle rustling, kidnappings and armed robbery was now assured of safety of lives and property.

    He said that with the support of Air Task Force (ATF), the Operation Sharan Daji (OPSD) had recently launched series of air strikes against bandits’ hideouts and camps in SUBUBU and RUGU forest.

    Read Also: Zamfara SSG: we lost 3,000 to banditry

    The acting director of defence information said the attacks had successfully neutralised a large number of armed bandits and destroyed their camps.

    He said the momentum would be sustained, and that the tempo in the fight to wipe out criminalities in the state would also be increased.

  • Zamfara Govt. directs return of IDPs home

    The Zamfara Government has directed an immediate return of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to their various villages.

    Gov. Abdulaziz Yari gave the directive while addressing  newsmen shortly after the state’s security meeting on Monday.

    The governor said the state had enough deployment in terms of security personnel that would remain with communities to ensure peace.

    Yari said the state had received the deployment of 1,000 troops which were adequate to fight the crimes.

    He said the security chief in the state assured him of the rediness to tackle the insecurity in the state.

    He directed the council chairmen to mobilise all communities at the  camps in Zurmi, Shikafi, Anka and Maradun back to their villages and towns.

    The governor stressed that peace had started returning in the villages.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that recently, the local governments have recorded thousands of IDPs resulting from bandits’ attacks.(NAN)

  • Boko Haram: Insurgents didn’t hoist flag in North east, cyber-terrorists out to frustrate relocation of IDPs back home – SHAC

    The Save Humanity Advocacy Centre, SHAC, has described the report in a section of the media alleging that some elements of the Boko Haram sect are active and currently hoisting their flags in some parts of north eastern region of Nigeria as fake, ridiculous and totally unacceptable in the face of efforts by stakeholders to relocate IDPs back to their abodes.

    The group said the false alarm is an attempt at frustrating the ongoing efforts to relocate and rehabilitate the Internally Displaced Persons back to their homes.

    SHAC said the information was not true as it remains a figment of the imagination of those merchants of death and profiteers of crisis who have vowed to see to the destabilisation of this country.

    Lawrence Audu, Director of Communications, SHAC, at a press conference on Sunday and obtained by our reporter, said the false report was capable of putting the life of humanitarian workers in danger and thwarting efforts at relocating internally displaced persons back home.

    The group therefore called on Nigerians and the international collaborators to disregard such heinous and unbridled stories being churned out by Boko Haram cyber thugs to discourage the Federal Government and the Nigerian people about seeing to the final end of Boko Haram in Nigeria .

    He said, “For the records, the Nigerian Military has won the war and no Jupiter can reverse the successes achieved even if they are happy or not. Efforts are ongoing and credible humanitarian organisations have continued to work with the IDPs of which many have returned home.

    “At this juncture, we call on all Nigerians to always verify the sources of their information before rebroadcasting because statistics show that fake news and rumours have been largely responsible for the escalation of crisis in most parts of the country.

    “Nigerians must be aware that one major component of terror is information flow. Terrorists like ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabab and their collaborators create dreadful images to instill fear followed by hate which travels like wild fire. Since negative news apeals more to the human senses, they are shared without proper verification to it’s authenticity.

    “Nigerians must desist from such acts since it helps the author achieve their aims very cheaply while those sharing achieve nothing but a society divided against itself along ethnic and religious lines.”

  • Excitement as NGO resettles IDPs to Northern Borno

    Following the final decapitation of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists and the complete return of peace to the Northeast, the Peace Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Initiative PRRI has resettled over 1000 displaced persons into their communities.

    The Boko Haram insurgency which began an armed rebellion against the Nigerian state in 2012 with the aide of international conspirators like Amnesty International and a host of others took a substantial part of the Northeast of Nigeria thereby rendering millions homeless while killing unarmed civilians and raping women in uncountable numbers.

    The renewed commitment of the Nigerian Military particularly the Nigerian Army within the last three years was able to take back areas held by these criminal elements.

    With the return of peace in these communities, the PRRI has in the last two years been involved in the provision of humanitarian interventions such as relief materials, Medicare and financial assistance to victims.

    The 2018 edition tagged “Home Return” was organized in collaboration with Entrepreneur Network Nigeria (EEN) and featured various vocational skills in soap making, insecticide, germicide, bead making , reusable sanitary towels, cosmetics shoemaking and tailoring.

    Speaking at the distribution ceremomy, Deputy Secretary of PRRI Nkechi Odoma, who represented the PRRI Chairman, Hon Sam Ode mni said, PRRI is happy to be a part of their story and enjoined them to put the skills and resources already acquired into good use and encouraged others with such lofty ideas to reach out to them and not be discouraged.

    She tasked the community to return home and start a living but must report movement of suspicious persons to the military and remain law abiding citizens.

    Over 1000 Internally Displaced Persons benefited from the scheme at the Mongonu and Baga IDP camps with items such as sewing machines, cosmetic kits, and other starter packs as well as food items of assorted variables.

    A beneficiary Amina Bulama who lost her husband and two children couldn’t hide her emotions while speaking to TheNigerian. Expressed gratitude to the organization for the program which she said has given her a reason to stay alive.

    “This scheme has given me a new life, I am very excited to return home and begin anew,” she said.

    Another beneficiary, Mohammed Kaita recounted his ordeal with the terrorists.

    “They killed my aged mother and raped my two wives right before me. I had a barn filled with grains but they burnt all including our houses. My two sons were spared because they were not home at the time of the attack but my neighbours son who refused to join the insurgency were slaughtered like rams before their aged father who couldn’t survive the trauma.

    “I have lost everything I ever worked for but I am very grateful to God for this initiative the PRRPI has brought. I have learnt how to make clothes I am prepared to go home any moment from now because peace has now returned to my village”. He said

    In 2014, the insurgency spread to neighboring Cameroon, Chad, and Niger thus becoming a major regional conflict.

    In 2015, a coalition offensive by the Multi National Joint Task Force pushed Boko Haram to retreat into the Sambisa Forest until the Nigerian Military in a decisive operation cleared their entire strong holds.

    The insurgency which has largely been political took place within the context of long-standing issues of religious violence between Nigeria’s Muslim and Christian communities even though the insurgents did not discriminate along religious lines in their killings.

    Boko Haram has been called the world’s deadliest terrorist group, in terms of the number of people it has killed and territories it captured.

    The PRRI has remained one of the organizations working not only to ensure that peace returns but that communities are reconstructed victims rehabilitated and resettled in their homes.

    “Coming here by road all the way from Abuja, I have seen so much. The magnitude of devastation is unimaginable but  the recovery effort is very very impressive” François de Rubet a French journalist told TheNigerian.

    “It’s not about sitting in that luxury hotel in Abuja to say things that don’t add up, its about coming up here to assess situations for yourself.

    “The most amazing aspect is the home grown solutions the Nigerian authorities have adopted. To me, this is the best solution to completely avert a future occurrence” he added.

    After the intensive training by the PRRI Team beneficiaries where issued certificates and given materials and cash to start up businesses.

    The intervention of the PRRI according to Hadiza Usman a beneficiary living with disability, will linger in their minds for a long time to come as they prepare to return back home. But above all the love she has been shown by the team has helped her to stay hopeful that the event of the recent past has come to a final end.

  • Boko Haram: Yobe closes last IDP camp

    Yobe State Government has closed down the last Internally Displaced Persons Camp, ‘Popomari IDP Camp’ in the state.

    Located at a primary school in  Pompomari within Damaturu metropolis, the camp initially had a population of  4, 211 people at the time it was established but the population was reduced to 1,314 after over 2,897  voluntarily left the camp to pursue their livelihoods.

    The Permanent Secretary, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency, Idi Musa Jidawa at the closing ceremony said the people voluntarily wrote to government to vacate the camp and return back to their communities.

    Read Also:Army arrests Boko Haram fuel suppliers

    The Yobe SEMA boss also disclosed that the State government has expended over N140 million for the establishment and take off of the camp, feeding and medical treatment of the IDPs at the camp since its establishment.

    He announced that the state government earmarked for the distribution of 743 bags of 50kg rice, 596 jerry cans of 25 litres vegetable oil, 541 cartons of tomato paste, 370 cartoons of bathing soap, 1000 pieces of mosquito nets, 1,272 pieces of nylon mats, 60 bales of used clothes and a cash assistance of N9, 110, 00 million to the 318 heads of household depending on family size.

    He also disclosed that a total of 42 marriages were contracted within the period in the camp with a total of 195 healthy babies born with 26 dead.

    Investigation however revealed most of the returning are not returning back to their ancestral communities as the security situation in the areas have not improved but have rather chosen to stay wherever they wanted.

    Some of the IDPs who spoke to our correspondent were happy for leaving the camp after three years and three months.

    We can’t continue to live on handouts from government. They have tried for us. We need to go back and start our lives as the rainy season is at hand, Modu Abdullahi from Abiya Tasha said.

    The returnees are mostly from Gujba Local Government from different communities like, Ambiya Kura, Ambiya Bulabullin, Ambiya Tasha, Sharfuri, Shangamari and Turo Kura.

  • We’ll restore your devastated communities, Buhari assures IDPs

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday assured Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) that his administration will leave no stone unturned to restore their devastated communities for their immediate and safe return.

    While congratulating the 2,000 IDPs at the Kuchingoro Camp, in the Federal Capital Territory who are getting set to return to their communities in the Northeast, the President assured all Nigerians that his administration will not forget citizens in their time of distress and will continue to work for the betterment and security of the people.

    Speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, who received the IDPs at the precincts of the Aso Rock Villa on his behalf, President Buhari also used the opportunity to thank members of the international community and Nigerians, including Aliko Dangote, General T.Y Danjuma and other philanthropists, for their sustained efforts towards the reconstruction and rehabilitation of destroyed communities in the Northeast.