NEMA warns against stigmatizing victims of insurgency

…Says only six returnees were pregnant 

AS the Federal Government continues efforts to reintegrate the women and girls rescued from Boko Haram enclave into the society, the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has advise against stigmatization of the victims, even as he said only six of them so far have been confirmed pregnant.

NEMA helmsman Mohammed Sani-Sidi, gave this advice at the weekend during an interactive session with the media in Abuja hosted by PRNigeria.

“I must put it on record that only six of them came with pregnancy and we must add however that we have to be very careful not to stigmatize these innocent Nigerians who were under captivity and came back with pregnancy so that we don’t end up descriminating against the child that is yet unborn. I think we must respect their rights and be careful by the way we talk about the issue,” he stated.

He said with the plan by the Federal Government to assign therapeutic experts to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in victims of terrorism to control the physiological symptoms, which can enable the patient to tolerate and work through the highly emotional material in psychotherapy, it would soon prepare the victims for proper reintegration.

“Out of the 275 children, 63 came back without their parents, and that is very worrisome. It is a terrible situation to have children under the age of five unaccompanied, meaning they have lost their parents. This is a sympathetic situation,” he said.