Rains delay relocation of Plateau IDPs to ancestral homes

Maj. Gen. Augustine Agundu, Commander, Special Task Force (STF) in Plateau, has attributed the delay in relocating the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the area to their ancestral homes to the current rainy season.

Agundu said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Jos.

NAN recalls that the STF, in collaboration with Plateau Government in December 2018, commenced the relocation of IDPs in some camps to their ancestral homes.

Prior to the commencement of the exercise, the STF had categorised the IDPs into three.

The groups consist of those whose homes were intact but left for fear of being attacked; those whose homes were partially destroyed and those whose homes were completely destroyed by the attackers.

The commander said that more troops were deployed to the affected communities before the relocation process commenced to assuage the apprehension of the returnees.

“Some IDPs that fall under the first category in Gashish District of Barkin Ladi were assisted to return home.

“The state government is doing a lot along this line and we must give it the accolades it deserves. It has commenced repair of the houses that were completely destroyed and those that were partially destroyed.

“The government is working with the coordinator of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps to repair these buildings.

“There are even some of the people who, on their own volition, want to repair their homes by themselves without waiting for government.

“But rainy season is here and you cannot mould blocks, that’s why some perons are still in the IDP camps.

“We have been able to assuage the apprehension which the people had and I am sure that once the dry season sets in, there will be nothing like IDPs camp here, anymore,” he said. (NAN)