Fity-six thousand Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from different Northern states, who are taking refuge in Bauchi State, have asked Governor Bala Muhammad to support them by giving their children employment.
The State Chairman of IDPs, Alhaji Buba Musa Shehu, stated this today in Bauchi when he led 20 local government chairmen of IDPs to address a press conference in Bauchi.
Buba said despite intervention and support by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and North East Development Commission NEDC and the support from the wife of the governor, they still needed the governor to come to their aid.
“Many of us have been in Bauchi since 2012. Some came in 2013 and 2014. When our camps were closed, many of us rented houses but due to lack of employment, we cannot get money to pay for the rent. We have nowhere to go. We want the governor to include our children in government empowerment programmes and employment schemes of the government, in order to ameliorate our problems.”
He attributed the influx of IDPs in Bauchi to recent attacks on Gaidam, in Yobe State, and other parts of Borno State.
He thanked the people of the state for their hospitality, adding “We are now one family.”