Bauchi, FG urged to intervene in Borno 500 IDPs situation

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By Usman Shehu, Bauchi

Over 500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Damboa, Mafa, Ngala, Jere, Dikwa and Marte in Borno State, taking refuge at Rundei village in Bauchi Local Government Area of Bauchi State have appealed to both the federal and state governments to salvage them from their present unbearable situation.

The IDPs who took shelter at the Bauchi LGA village have been taking refuge for the past seven years in thatched structures, appealing to the governments to provide them with piece of land to build temporary structures as homes.

“For the past seven years or so, we have been hosting the refugees displaced from Borno state as a result of insurgent activities. Here in this village they rents farmlands on which they erect thatch roofs and rooms which lasts for only one year as shelter, meaning each and every year they pay for ground rent,” Rundei ward head, Mallam Adamu Haruna recalled.

The ward head at the inauguration of the elected officials of IDPs Rundei village branch of the Kendai IDPs Association of Nigeria, today called on the Bauchi state government to provide the association members at Rundei with permanent place of abode, portable drinking water, health clinics, and school for their children.

He explained that, “For the seven-year period of taking refuge here, the IDPs have been taking refuge on rented farmlands, using ponds to fetch drinking water, lacks clinic to address their health-related problems, while our children lacks formal school, besides other much-needed social amenities for livilihood”.

Speaking at the occasion, the Bauchi State Deputy Coordinator with the National Directorate for Employment (NDE), Alhaji Jamilu Adamu assured the IDPs of his directorate’s support and assistance especially in skills acquisition training for self-reliance.

The Deputy Coordinator explained that the directorate conducts periodic training for Nigerians aged between 18 – 40 years, saying however, that NDE has since graduated it’s training registration from analogue to online, and called on the IDPs association to ensure its members register online for the training.

Alhaji Adamu while revealing that the directorate’s ongoing training would come to an end in the next thirty days which batch, he recalled, 15, 000 registered online, but only 1, 080 were enrolled, while on the national level, over 490, 000 registered with only 41, 000 enrolled.