Edited by Razak Owolabi/Muhammad Suleiman Tola
FG distributes relief materials, food items to IDPs in Bauchi
NAN-HG-7
IDPs
Bauchi, Nov. 8, 2016 (NAN) The Federal Government on Tuesday distributed relief materials to more than one million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Bauchi State.
Presenting the items, the Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Alhassan, said that the action was to support the affected citizenry.
Alhassan said that the action would reduce the socio-economic hardship of the IDPs.
She expressed concern over the plight of the IDPs especially living behind a place where you call home to a new environment.
Some of the relief materials include 600 bags of rice, 300 bags of maize, 500 cartons of Omo, 500 pairs of slippers, 500 plates and 500 buckets.
Others were 300 bags of beans, 1000 blankets, 500 mats, 500 mattresses and 500 plates.
Alhassan urged the IDPs to enrol their children in basic education for continuity, retention and completion to take effect.
Earlier speaking, the Wife of Bauchi State governor, Hajiya Hadiza Abubakar, described the visit of the minister as a milestone towards improving the lives of the IDPs.
She said that plans were in the pipeline to commence an empowerment programme that would lift the economic status of the IDPs in the state.
Abubkar urged officials in charge of distributing the materials to conduct the exercise with fear of God.
Also, the state Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajiya Asabe Hamma, said that statistics has revealed that 5,955 out of the 9,998 households of the IDPs were women and child.
The Leader of the IDPs in the state, Malam Buba Shehu, commended the federal government initiative of supporting them with relief materials.
He said that despite country’s economic recession, IDPs were given priority and provided with some items to reduce the hardship.
He expressed gratitude to the minister for taken into cognizance women folks as vulnerable that need all support especially as victims of insurgency.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bauchi state has more than one million IDPs across the 20 local government areas in the state. (NAN)
AE/MST/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola