Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA), at the weekend, played Oliver Twist, as Fidelity Bank donated foodstuff to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Makurdi.

Speaking to newsmen at the Federal Housing Estate IDP camp in North Bank, Team Lead, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Victoria Abuka, said the food donation was an initiative to directly reach out to the most vulnerable in the society.

Abuka, who explained that as a responsible corporate organisation, Fidelity Bank “sees it fit” to contribute to the society, said the initiative christened ‘Fidelity Food Bank’ is a monthly nationwide exercise, which began in April 2023.

Addressing the displaced persons at the occasion, Branch Leader, Fidelity Bank, Benue State, Terwase Swande, explained that the bank, in partnership with the Hyacinth Alia Foundation and BSEMA, was out to directly assuage the hunger of communities in dire lack like the IDPs. He said it would be a continuous exercise by the bank.

Earlier, while taking the team round the tents, which serve as sleeping quarters for the displaced persons, SEMA Executive Secretary, James Iorpuu, told the team that some of the IDPs were widows whose breadwinners had been killed and orphans, who lost both parents to terrorist attacks and were being looked after by fellow displaced persons at the camp.

The SEMA boss said the state government was planning a resettlement programme for displaced persons in the state.

Iorpuu said: “We cannot continue keeping these people in the sun and in the rain. We want to resettle them back in their homes. As you have provided food for us, we appeal to you to assist us in the resettlement plan too.”