The ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has expressed concerned over the plights of the over 3,000 inhabitants of the Durumi internally displaced persons (IDP) camp made up of 330 households, 70 percent of whom are women and children from Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states.
The victims were displaced by insurgents in the Northeast between 2012 and 2014.
Country Director, AAN, Comrade Ene Obi, on Wednesday in Abuja noted that the camp was demolished on December 21, 2022 by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) citing an upsurge in crime and criminality for the demolition.
“ActionAid Nigeria recognises that the office of the Permanent Secretary of FCTA seeks to rid Durumi district of criminal elements that are responsible for the lootings, killings, rape, traffic nuisance, drug peddling amongst others in the neighbourhood.
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“However, it is crucial to note that this is an unsuitable time, amidst the Yuletide season, to carry out such ferocious exercise which has negative impacts on innocent and vulnerable displaced persons, particularly girls and women whose homes and sources of livelihood have now been destroyed,” Obi said.
According to her, it is also important to note that the original communities these displaced persons came from are still under attack by insurgents and have no option of going there, thus the need for government to make alternative provisions for them.
“FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and FCTA should consider as a matter of urgency, the establishment of an organised camp to resettle these set of vulnerable and the IDPs.
“The administration owes her citizenry a duty to protect lives and property, but hundreds of families have lost their personal effects and now exposed to the same criminalities the agency is working to eliminate because of the demolition and the limited notice period given.
“Hence, FEMA is under obligation to provide food, non-food, and dignity kits to these vulnerable persons during this unjust period they have been subjected to,” she said.
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