Plateau IDPs seek adequate security to return home
By Blessing Odega,
Heipang (Plateau) July 17, 2018 (NAN) Worried by the poor state of their camps, Plateau residents displaced by the recent attacks on their communities have appealed to government to provide adequate security to enable them return home.
Some of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) taking refuge in COCIN Church Barkin-Ladi and Hiepang, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, also expressed anxiety to return to their farms with the rainy season at its peak.
Mrs. Marie Obadiah, a 22-year-old widow and mother of a six-month-old infant, said that she was itching to return home because the camp was “simply uncomfortable”.
“Food is inadequate here. There is no place to sleep. The sanitary situation is horrible. I just want to go home,” Obadiah, who is from Ruku village in Barkin-Ladi, told NAN.
The widow, who lost her husband in the attack, urged government to secure the rural areas to enable the rural dwellers live their normal lives.
Mr Felix Luka, another IDP from Ruku village, equally called on the government to provide adequate security to enable him return to his ancestral land.
“I am a farmer; farming is my only means of livelihood. It is the only thing I know and want to do. If I do not return home, I can’t be productive.
“It is true that our farms have been destroyed, but I still want the government to provide security for us in Ruku. We can start all over again.
“I want to go back to plant potatoes. I am not comfortable here. The IDPs are faced with various challenges. Aside inadequate food, we sleep on the bare floor in this cold. Many of us have been hit by malaria and other diseases,” he said.
Rev. Nehemiah Mutfuang of ECWA Zaroko, whose Church was destroyed in an attack on June 24, complained of inadequate sleeping spaces, paucity of mattresses, food and health facilities.
“We are up to 2,500 here, but there is no make-shift clinic. The situation here is just bad,” he said.
Mrs. Esther Ishaku, a displaced person from Gashish village in X-land, bemoaned her stay at the camp, and lamented that it had made her unproductive.
“There is no farm here. I am not used to such indolence. Government should look into the issue of security so that we can return home,” he said.
Madam Lydia Stevenson, another displaced person, also appealed to the government to resettle them in their homes by providing adequate security.
NAN reports that massive attacks on 11 communities in four local governments – Bokkos, Riyom, Barkin-Ladi and Mangu – have displaced more than 12,000 people currently scattered in various camps in the affected areas. (NAN)
UBO/ETS
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Edited by Ephraims Sheyin