•FG seeks urgent intervention from UN agencies, other development partners
By Bianca Iboma-Emefu
Humanitarian response agencies operating in Nigeria, including the United Nations, European Union and development partners have been urged to urgently deploy their services to Benue State to combat its debilitating humanitarian situation. Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, made the call when she visited the Ichiwa Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp, Makurdi, with Governor Hyacinth Alia.
She argued: “It will be impossible for the burden of the 14,000 IDPs in Ichiwa and millions of others in several other IDP camps located across the three senatorial districts of the state to be shouldered alone by both state and the federal governments. The situation on ground is unacceptable, it requires immediate concerted efforts to redeem.”
Edu assured the IDPs of President Bola Tinubu’s “unwavering determination to find lasting solutions to your plight.” She noted that, if urgent and immediate actions were not taken, the situation could degenerate into unmitigated humanitarian crises:
“I feel so heavy in my heart. I will have sleepless nights about what I have seen here until we find solutions. A household of six living in a small shanty that can’t even accommodate the width of my arm, made of light tarpaulin. When it rains, mothers and children are out there in the rain.
“We are here to build low-cost houses (two sites at the same time) for the displaced persons. It should be a matter of emergency for all agencies and all stakeholders in humanitarian responses to urgently deploy to Benue to help remedy the situation because the condition I see here is unacceptable.
“The federal government requests, as a matter of urgency, for all international partners, donor agencies, including the UN, and indeed everyone in the humanitarian space to deploy to Benue State. The situation is an emergency.
“Let me re-emphasise that the humanitarian situation in Benue is devastating. The people must be resettled properly in their ancestral homes. Government cannot do it alone. All hands must be on deck. Benue needs humanitarian support and must be treated so urgently.
“On our part, government is providing shelters for them and several other interventions, including water, sanitation and hygiene programmes, as well as educational learning programmes. We cannot allow this number of children to be unschooled.
“In this spot alone, where I stand, we have over 14,000 women, children, the aged, their families and households sleeping in their unbearable tiny space,”
Edu announced that the federal government, in partnership with the state government, would intervene to ameliorate the people’s suffering: “But we can’t do it alone. What we have here is a monumental humanitarian crisis. We need all our development partners to put their foot on the ground in Benue.”
The minister expressed the fear that gender-based violence and other forms of violence against women could be rife at the camp: “With young girls everywhere in the camps, who know the level of all sorts of violence they are facing? This is why there is an urgent need for intervention.”
She urged parents in the camps to ensure that their children were protected and go to school, assuring them that government would do all in its power to resettle them in their ancestral homes.
Governor Alia commended the President for fulfilling the promise he made to the people of Benue by committing to the resettlement of the IDPs in their ancestral homes.
“The interventions of the minister are heart warming. This is was what the people of Benue have been yearning for,” he said.
He expressed delight that the people were beginning to receive democratic dividends. He was optimistic that the next visit of the minister to the state would be to inaugurate some of the humanitarian projects.
Edu donated relief materials, including food and non-food items, to the IDPs.
