NAN-H-22
IDPs
By Lizzy Agbaji
Abuja, Nov. 17, 2016 (NAN) The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Nigeria, will on Friday hand over 100 bungalows of its Guma Shelter to Benue Government.
Mr Hanson Tamfu, External Relations Officer, UNHCR, Nigeria, made this known in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
He noted that Guma Shelter was constructed for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
According to him, the Gulma project is the brainchild of the UNHCR Country Representative to Nigeria, Ms Angel Dikongue-Atangana.
It was conceived after the 2012 massive flooding in the state.
Tamfu said that the flood had rendered 250,000 persons homeless with several hectares of farmlands and houses destroyed in Makurdi and other local government areas.
He said that the most affected local government areas were: Apa, Agatu, Otukpo, Guma, Buruku, Tarka and Katina-Ala.
Tamfu said that the shelters were constructed in collaboration with the Benue Government.
He said that the commission contacted the Benue Non-Governmental Organisations Network (BENGONET) to implement the shelter project in realisation of its objective to reduce the suffering of IDPs.
He noted that, as part of UNHCR’s assistance to IDPs in the state, the agency intervened with the distribution of non-food items to the IDPs in 2014.
Tamfu explained that long after the floods, the state had continued to witness an increase in internal displacements resulting mostly from communal clashes and attacks from herdsmen.
He said that the situation was compounded by influx of displaced persons from neighbouring Nasarawa and Taraba.
“According to a data made available by the international Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in August, about 30, 584 individuals have been displaced in Benue,’’ he said.
The official said that 95 per cent of the displacements was caused by communal clashes while five per cent was due to flood.
“To be able to accommodate these vulnerable people, there are currently seven IDPs’ camps in four local government areas across the state – Guma, Buruku, Logo and Ukum,’’ he said.
He said that UNHCR had changed its modus operandi from direct cash vouchering for screened IDPs to provision of physical shelter. (NAN)
LIZ/JPE/IGO
==========
(Edited by Joseph Edeh/Ijeoma Popoola)