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Musa Shehu, Chairman of IDPs in Bauchi state addressing news men in Bauchi
By Akanji Alowolodu , Bauchi
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) taking refuge in Bauchi state have alleged discrimination by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the distribution of relief materials to them saying that the last time they received such intervention was 4 years ago, 2017 to be precise.
Speaking on behalf of the IDPs in Turum village, Bauchi, during the weekend, the Bauchi State Chairman of Internally Displaced Persons, Musa Shehu said that they have made several entreaties to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) but have been ignored despite several efforts to reach the authorities concerned.
He then urged the state government to as a matter of urgency intervene in ensuring that relief items from NEMA reached the IDPs in the state, alleging that NEMA has been providing relief items to the state, but that they only received NEMA intervention in 2017.
According to him, 56,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in Bauchi State are lamenting lack of social amenities indicting both the state and federal governments relief agencies for ignoring them.
The IDPs Chairman also said that the only intervention they are now receiving, comes from the North-east Development Commission (NEDC), pointing out that apart from the Commission’s intervention, no other governmental agency or NGO provide relief services to them.
The Chairman further said that many of the IDPs in the state came from the neighboring states of Borno, Yobe, Zamfara, Taraba, Adamawa, Plateau, Katsina and Kaduna as a result of activities of insurgents ravaging the North-East and other parts of the Northern states, adding that they have been residing peacefully in the state since 2014.
“We are pleading with the federal and state government to look into our pligths by providing us with food items, social amenities, sources of livelihoods for our people as well as lands so that we can build our own houses because many of us are living in households of host communities in the state”
Musa Shehu added that, “The only intervention we got from NEMA was in 2017 and since then, we have not received any support from the agency despite all efforts to contact the authorities concerned” .
He said that, “We need schools for our children as the public schools in the state do not accept them. Most of the IDPs lost their sources of livelihoods when they left their states, now most of them do menial jobs to keep body and soul together, which cannot meet all their needs”.
The Chairman also said that majority of the IDPs find themselves in communities where they are hosted by their relatives or some kindhearted persons who would sometimes give them empty open spaces or uncompleted buildings to raise tents and live within.
Also Speaking, the IDP Chairman, Misau Local government, Idris Baba called on the administration of Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed to provide IDPs in the state with plots of land so that they can build their personal houses instead of living with residents of the state.
