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The process of distributing relief items to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Taraba State is now subject of controversy between Governor Darius Ishaku and Minister of Women and Social Development, Senator Aisha Jumai Alhassan.
The minister claims it is her responsibility to distribute the said items to the IDPs, but the state government insists that she cannot lay claim to it even though they (materials) were made available by the Federal Government through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) without passing through due process.
The governor, who made this known yesterday in Jalingo, the state capital, through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Sylvanus Giwa, said: “The Taraba State government is dismayed by the attitude of the Minister of Women and Social Development who arrived in Jalingo, the state capital, on July 29, 2016 on official assignment without formally communicating to the state government.”
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“Her action breached protocol and is a disregard for constituted authority as no prior information had been given for her visit which requires the government of the state to accord her necessary protocol.
“As a minister, representing the state, she is expected to pay a courtesy visit to the governor to intimate him of her activities and possible areas of collaboration in the interest of the state.
But the minister wondered why the state government has not deemed it fit to distribute the materials that have long been in warehouses.
She said: “I did not believe this kind of hostility is fair to our people, especially the IDPs.
“The state government, in an apparent show of hostility and disrespect for the Federal Government, has refused to hand over the items to us for distribution to IDPs.”
