Heartless people are stealing food items from the weak and vulnerable Internally Displaces Persons (IDPs) living with trauma of war in camps and camp-likes in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. President Muhammadu Buhari should, with full presidential might deal with individuals and organizations that are culpable of this inhumanity.
Considering the fact that there are international aids agencies contributing to the funding of the supplies, it is a smear in the face of our nation and takes the level of corruption in the country to a new shameful height.
The government should also experiment a decentralized system of cooking for the IDPs, where contractors will be given the job of cooking for a certain number of people.
For instance, if there are 5,000 IDPs in a camp. 10 0r 20 contractors can be engaged to cook for 500 or 250 people. However, the contractors should not be just ‘contractors’ (politicians or family and friends of those in authority) but well-established canteen or the popular Nigerian ‘mamaput’ operators. In each of these states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa with large IDPs, there are known women who are running successful local food cafeterias. These women can be organized and employed to serve as handlers of the cooking for certain number of IDPs in a camp.
Furthermore, Kaduna and Osun states are running successful school feeding programmes. Their models can be copied.
The individuals from both federal and states government agencies currently handling the funding, supply and cooking of food for the IDPs should be replaced- this measure will give IDPs the assurance that’s omething new is being put in place. There is a need for refined systems, which separate those handling fund, those handling the food, cooking as well as those monitoring the feeding system. The corruption in the IDPs camps has brought to the fore the need for the consolidation and hastening of the activities of various committees and agencies for quick rehabilitation and return of IDPs to their homes.
Zayyad I. Muhammad, Jimeta, Adamawa State [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>,08036070980
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