Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Shiroro, Munya and Rafi council areas have accused the Niger State government of insensitivity, stating that their lot are worsening daily across various camps.
They alleged being neglected by the government.The refugees laid the complaints during a visit by the Niger State Correspondents Chapel of NUJ to the IDP camps of Gwada and Kuta in Shiroro Local Council.
The Shiroro IDP Desk Officer and Coordinator, Yusuf Kuta, while addressing the reporters, listed some of the challenges confronting the camps to include inadequate food stuffs, which have led to hunger and malnutrition, and lack of education and health facilities.
Yusuf explained that the camp has 1,119 women, 2,511 children and 87 men besides 38 women from Zamfara State, adding that a good number of unspecified victims were outside the facility. He hinted that attacks on rural communities by bandits and Boko Haram terrorists had affected 42 settlements across the three councils.
Kuta revealed that 50 malnourished children are undergoing treatment owing to lack of adequate foods for the breastfeeding women in the camp, calling for urgent intervention from relevant authorities, while lauding the Nigerian Red Cross for recent support.
His words: “Kuta IDP camp has been in existence since 2019. And to the glory of Allah, we are managing it. But the IDPs here are suffering because their communities have been burnt down by bandits. Some of them are sick and currently in the hospital, and we don’t have adequate drugs.
“About 80 people sleep in one classroom. You know that can cause diseases and sicknesses.” He said the council chairman recently supported them with some drugs but that could not last more than three to four weeks because of the number of sick people.
An inmate, Ahmed Al-Mustapha, lamented inadequate accommodation, food shortage, out of school children, diseases, lack of toilet facilities, noting that the available ones were full.
He said that they crave for the restoration of security to enable them return home. Al-Mustapha stated that since the military vacated his own community, criminals have ceaselessly launched attacks, eliminating lives in the process.
The Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs, Baba Yumu, insisted that the Governor Mohammed Bago’s administration has been up and doing in addressing the needs of the over 42,000 IDPs spread across the state.
Also, Director-General of Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Abdullahi Arah, reiterated the commitment of the current administration to prioritising the welfare and wellbeing of those in need, especially during emergencies.
Speaking through the spokesman of the agency, Hussaini Ibrahim, the DG confirmed that food items were recently distributed to IDPs, assuring of his organisation’s readiness to assist at all time.
