The Benue State Emergency Management Agency, this weekend admitted that the state requires roughly 500 million naira monthly to provide the basic needs of its close to two million Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.
The Executive Secretary of Benue SEMA, Dr. Emmanuel Shior announced this in Makurdi while flagging off the monthly distribution of food and non-food items to the official and unofficial IDPs camps in the state and lamented that the crisis in the state of armed herdsmen attacks has left the state devastated.
Dr. Emmanuel shior also urged the Federal Government to offer support to aid the state cater for the needs of the internally displaced persons as things are getting much more expensive daily.
“A truck of 25kg rice which is about 1,200 bags is about a million naira for one truck. What we have here is not enough to go around. So in terms of purchasing food and non-food items that should be enough, we need approximately 500 million naira to buy enough items for the IDPs monthly.”
“Unfortunately, Benue State has been abandoned and the IDPs have been neglected by the Federal Government, and the challenge at hand is very huge that it cannot be left to the Benue State government alone.
Fortunately, Governor Samuel Ortom has been relentless not only in working hard and confirming that he mobilizes Benue SEMA every month to react to some of the basic needs of the IDPs but also in ensuring that in other areas of human endeavor he works to ensure that the lives of Benue citizens are better.
“The situation we have in our hands is not only humanitarian, in most of the communities that they attacked they also destroyed infrastructure, farmlands, crops, schools, markets, churches, and even bridges, making it difficult for security agencies to access the attacked communities and those they are occupying.
Dr. Shior commended the humanitarian partners that have been with the agency and supported its activities.
We all need to join hands together to support IDPs in our state in any little way we can. let’s also pray for stability in our dear Benue state.
https://radiojagaban.com/2022/08/11/idoma-youths-reject-a-proposal-by-new-ochidoma/
