1.9m IDPs exist in the N’East, says NEMA

Govt distributes relief materials to displaced persons in Gombe
An official figure by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has revealed that 1,934,765 displaced persons are currently living in formal camps, host communities and satellite camps in liberated communities as a result of insurgency in the north eastern states of Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Gombe, Bauchi and Adamawa.

A breakdown of the figure revealed that there are 32 formal camps in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states with a total of 189,783 IDPs. Borno has 19 camps with 150,858 IDPs; Yobe has nine camps with 31,988 IDPs and Adamawa four camps with 6,937 IDPs.

This was disclosed by the Yola Camp Coordinator, Saad Bello, who, on behalf of the Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani Sidi, took the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Samanthan Power, round the facilities at Malkohi IDP camp in Yola, Adamawa State at the weekend.

The camp coordinator added that there were 14 satellite camps in liberated communities, mainly in Borno State with 216,184 IDPs. The camps with the highest population are Ngala with 70,505; Dikwa 53,636; Bama 27,000 and Damboa/Sabon Gari 25,311.

Meanwhile, as part of efforts to alleviate the plight of people affected by insurgency, the Federal Government has distributed food items and other materials to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Gombe State.

Speaking during the presentation, the leader of the Federal Government delegation, Alhaji Abubakar Kari, who represented the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) at the event in Deba town, headquarters of Yamaltu/Deba Local Council, said the donation would be continuous and cover all displaced persons in the North East.

The materials distributed are mattresses, bags of grain, vegetable oil, cartons of pasta, sugar, salt, buckets, mosquito nets and cloths.He reassured the IDPs that they would soon be relocated to their communities.

Saad said host communities in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states have a total of 1,391,613 IDPs. Borno State has the highest with 1,158,362; Adamawa 125,689 and Yobe 107,562.

He said: “Federal Government through the coordinating agency, NEMA and relevant ministries, departments and agencies have been trying to meet the needs of the IDPs in the provision of food, nutrition, non-food items (NFIs), temporary shelter, medicament, psycho-social therapy, security and protection.”

A press release by the spokesperson of the agency, Sani Datti, said as the government continued in the efforts to meet the needs of the IDPs, more supports were critically required for the people across the three identified kinds of camps before they return to their communities.

The U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Samanthan Power, who led a high level delegation from the U.S. to the Malkohi IDPs camp and host communities said they were there to see how Boko Haram would be defeated so that they can return to their communities.