The Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) says it is unthinkable to keep displaced persons in camp for over five years, expressing worry over the plight of displaced persons in the state.
Executive Secretary of SEMA, Dr Emmanuel Shior, made the remark on Wednesday while addressing journalists in Makurdi during the monthly food distribution to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.
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He blamed the Federal Government for the continued stay of the IDPs at the various camps across several local government areas.
“It’s unthinkable to keep IDPs for over five years. With such colossal damage to the state, the Federal Government has neglected us. The President should write his name in gold and attend to the humanitarian situation in the state,” he said.
Shior who challenged the federal government to give attention to IDPs in the state further explained with displeasure that the state which has recorded over two million people currently faced with huge humanitarian crisis even as more people are being displaced.
He added, “Because of the huge population of IDPs, it is not easy for the state government to cater for the IDPs alone. We have shared the concern that the federal government has neglected the humanitarian crisis in Benue which also has another leg which is crisis of infrastructure.
“The attackers have not only attacked the farming communities and killed and maimed and displaced people, they have destroyed farmlands, homes, schools, bridges, churches month others. So this is a big problem and one wonders why such a huge humanitarian crisis is neglected by federal government.”
Items distributed to the IDPs include bags of rice, garri, maize, cartons of noodles and condiments for the month of September.
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