NAN-H-36
IDPs
By Harrison Arubu
Abuja, Dec. 16, 2016 (NAN) Officials of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice (SPSP), an NGO, were moved to tears on Friday by the sight of hungry children scrambling for food at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Durumi, Abuja.
The incident occurred when a delegation of the FCT Chapter of the NGO visited the camp to donate relief items to the IDPs.
Some of the visitors, including chapter’s Public Relations Officer, Mrs Ladokun Abosede, cried as the children fought one another as they scrambled for food packs being distributed by an official.
The SPSP officials, therefore, called on well-meaning individuals, corporate bodies, groups and religious organisations to assist the government in reaching out to the IDPs.
Cue in audio 1 (Abosede)
“The thing that has touched me basically is the children. Whenever one of them gets a package, a dozen others would run after this one child to collect whatever he got.
“They just don’t collect it, they beat themselves to the ground, and it got at me. It really touched something inside of me.
“I would call on the society, individuals, religious organisations to please come to the aid of these IDPs.
“I am not as overwhelmed for the women as I am for the children because I have children too.
“I feel bad about the way they treat themselves when one person gets a goody. It could be better. This is a violation of human rights.’’
Cue out audio 1 (Abosede)
Mr Ibrahim Tafawa-Balewa, another member of SPSP, said the situation at the Durumi camp, with a population of about 2,000 IDPs, was similar to that of other camps he had visited.
Tafawa-Balewa stressed the need for synergy among relevant government agencies and other organisations for a more focused intervention efforts.
Cue in audio 2 (Tafawa-Balewa)
“From day one, government has actually stressed the need for the whole nation to focus on the issue of IDPs especially as a result of what has been happening in the north east.
“From a personal perspective, government cannot do it alone. Yes, we know that a lot of money has been put forward, budgets have been increased, states have focused more spending on IDPs, but it hasn’t been enough.
“That is why organisations such as ours are trying to come together to support that cause. But the truth is that government really needs to streamline this thing.
“I think that, rather than have thousands of organisations all doing their bid for IDPs, there should be one goal, one direction, one vision and synergy.’’
Cue in audio 2 (Tafawa-Balewa)
The FCT Chairman of SPSP, Mr David Ojelabi, said that besides food and clothes, the IDPs needed money to be able run the water, medical and educational facilities at the camp.
Cue in audio 3 (Ojelabi)
“We believe that food, tubers of yam, rice and Indomie alone cannot solve the problem. They need money and that is why we decided to come here with money.
“You can see they have medical and educational facilities, but they need to keep them running. According to one of them, they have volunteer teachers but they need to pay them.
“The generator that will give them the power to get water from the borehole also needs to be fueled.
“This is why we decided that we are not come with only clothing materials and food items.
“We need money to support them for the remaining time they are going to be here and our prayer to God is for the crisis in the north eastern part of Nigeria to be resolved finally so that they could be reintegrated in their communities.’’
Cue out audio 3 (Ojelabi)
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the SPSP team made a cash donation of N50,000 to the camp in addition to food items and clothing materials.
Responding, Mr Idris Halilu, spokesman of the IDPs in Abuja, thanked the donors for the gesture, and called on other individuals and organisations to come to their aid. (NAN)
ARU/YEE
Edited by Emmanuel Yashim
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