VSF official urges IDPs to return to North-East
NAN-H-71
Return
By Lizzy Okoji
Abuja, Oct. 12, 2017 (NAN) Dr Sunday Ochoche, Executive Director, Victims Support Fund, has urged Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to return to their communities in the North East following the significant security improvement in the region.
Ochoche made the call on Thursday in Abuja at a donation of relief items from the National Bio-safety Management Agency (NBMA) to IDPs.
“Following the success recorded by the Military in the insurgency affected states of the North-East, we want to speak to our brothers and sisters, who are victims of the insurgency to encourage them to return home.
“The situation was very bad, especially in the area of security, there is still much to be done but it has significantly changed and stabilised and people are already returning.
“We want to encourage those especially around Abuja and other places that it is time to begin to think of returning home.
The situation is quickly returning to normalcy and we want to encourage a number of our displaced persons to begin to work towards return.
“We at VSF are working hard to support those who are returning because we know that life in the IDPs camp is not a holiday”, Ochoche said.
Ochoche said that the Fund is enhancing its Economic Empowerment Programmes in places where people are already returning to provide support for people to return to their economic activities.
He said that some of its empowerment programmes includes the Women Economic Programme, the Agro Support Programme and the recently inaugurated livestock programme where we distributed 800 goats to 200 families for breeding.
The executive director said that VSF has reconstructed public institutions and infrastructures destroyed by insurgents in communities like Bama and Gwoza in Borno State.
He said the organisation was currently reconstructing Michika and Burni Yadi in Adamawa and Yobe States to cushion the return of social services in the North-East.
Ochoche appreciated the Director General of the NBMA, Mr Rufus Ebegba, for the confidence he has in the VSF to use it as a reliable channel in reaching out to the victims of insurgency.
He assured him that the relief items would reach the target IDPs.
Earlier, Ebegba said that the items were donated from the contributions of Members of Staff and not the Federal Government’s purse.
He also appealed to other agencies and individuals to assist IDPs in however little way they can as no single agency can address the enormous needs of the IDPs and the destruction caused by the Boko Haram insurgents.
NAN reports that the items donated are 5kg bags of rice, indomine noodles, Groundnut oil, Spaghetti, maggi, salt, biscuits, tomatoes paste, detergent, washing soaps, bathing soaps and tissue papers. (NAN)
LIZ/BOLA/AFA
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Edited by Bola Akingbehin/Felix Ajide