IDPs In Bokkos, Riyom, Out Of Food For The Past 3 Weeks, Sleeping On Bare Floor

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Internally Displaced Persons at COCIN Central Bokkos IDP Camp have lamented the neglect by government at all levels as IDPs are said to be out of food for the past 3 weeks.

 

Leader of the Camp, Magwai Peter disclosed this when a Non-Governmental Organisation, Da Rwang Pam International Humanitarian Foundation in collaboration with the Military-Civilian Relief Initiative and the STF delivered relief materials at the camp.

 

Peter who revealed that the camp has 1,462 persons from 4 communities said since they were displaced from the their communities, the church from the support of few NGOs has been providing shelter, food and clothing to them without any support from government.

 

According to the Camp leader, for the past 3 weeks, the IDPs move around in the neighborhood for menial jobs to contribute for their feeding.

 

He also lamented that their crops which were due for harvest in their respective communities have been harvested by Fulani herdsmen who have occupied their houses and shared their farmlands among themselves.

 

He appreciated the NGO for supporting them and promised to utilize all that was given them well.

 

Also speaking on behalf of the clergy at the camp, Rev. Nehemiah Mutfwang commended for it’s effort to return them back to their communities and challenged Security Personnel to by live up to their responsibility in securing lives and property.

 

Speaking earlier, Leader of the team, Pastor Grace Pam said they were at the camp to identify them the displaced persons considering the difficulty they are passing through.

 

Sector 7 Commander of the STF, Major FC Aya who represented the STF Commander called on the the people to continue to be law abiding and assured them that in no distant time, they will be relocated back to their communities.

 

In a related development, the Internally Displaced Persons at Riyom Town Hall camp in Plateau have also complained of starving and sleeping on the bare floor, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

John Langai, one of them, told NAN during a visit to the camp by a delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross that many of them had been forced to seek refuge in the camp since June when their communities, Bachit and others were attacked by insurgents.

Langai said that they had been living in “degrading and dehumanising” conditions ever since they moved to the camp.

He said: “Many of our people were killed, our houses burnt by the attackers and our farms destroyed.

“Those of us who survived have nothing to eat, in fact we have been starving.

“We don’t have what to sleep on as you can see the women laying on the bare floor over there.

“Many have contacted diseases due to overcrowding and some have even died as a result.”

Blessing Gyang, a survivor who lost five members of her immediate family, including two of her brothers, described life in the camp as terrible.

Gyang said: “People queue to use the toilet provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“Many people, especially women, have contacted different kinds of diseases from the toilets.”

She, however, commended the ICRC for the assistance it had rendered to the IDPs in terms of food and other supplies.

Chief Gyang Dalyop, District Head of Bachit, appreciated the ICRC delegation led by its Regional Director for Africa, Patricia Danzi, for the intervention during a visit to the camp.

Dalyop, however, said the utmost priority of the IDPs was to return to their ancestral homes.

The district head appealed to ICRC to assist in the resettlement of the people to their homes where they could live normal lives again.

Danzi said: “Seeing people displaced is a sad story because it is a story of lost, a story of desperation and often a story of stigma.

“Some of the women have lost their husbands and some of them lost some dignity and this is truly a sad story.

“Life in the camp is never good and we will be happy if the people return to their homes.”

The regional director said that even though it was difficult to immediately meet the needs of the displayed people, she however, assured that ICRC would see what it would do differently to still assist them.

She called for the involvement of women in peace meetings, considering how pragmatic they might be as the worst hit.

 

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