Geidam solicits assistance for 60,000 returning IDPs

Yobe State Governor, Ibrahim Geidam, has called on international donor agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to render humanitarian assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) returning to their liberated communities.

This call was made yesterday when the Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Perry Calderwood, paid a courtesy visit on Geidam at Government House, Damaturu.

He said the IDPs had been living in camps for over three years until recently when they started returning to liberated communities in Gujba and Gulani council areas.

“The urgent assistance and intervention to returning displaced persons could be in essential non-food items, support to agriculture activities, provision of building materials and financial assistance to victims of insurgency. You can also intervene to assist us in several other areas as a way of alleviating the sufferings of persons affected by Boko Haram insurgency,” Geidam said.

He recalled the assistance Canada had previously rendered to the state government in infrastructural development.

“You can also render similar assistance in water supply, education, rural electrification and health sectors of the state, as most infrastructural facilities had been destroyed by Boko Haram insurgents,” the governor said.

He added that: “This emergency humanitarian assistance is for the 60,000 IDPs returning to Gujba and Gulani communities.”

Calderwood said that he was in the state to assess the needs of displaced persons returning to their homes and communities.

His words: “With what we saw in Yobe, I commend the efforts of governments towards reinstating peace in the troubled North East region of Nigeria. I also appreciate the role of government and other non-governmental organisations for their assistance to displaced persons in resettlement camps we visited.”

Calderwood disclosed that: “The Canadian government is providing $6 million (N1.68 billion) humanitarian services through UNICEF agencies like Action Against Hunger among others, to meet the needs of displaced persons.”