nation0428

More documents

Recommendations

Info

30 THE NORTH REPORT THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015 •Hope Tough life for displaced kids •Continued from page 29 nals. This is traumatising, he said, especially for the women and children at a time when they have lost loved ones to the insurgency. During a recent visit to the camp to present relief materials, an official of the Buhari Support Organisation, Hajia Hanatu Akilu condemned government neglect of the IDPs. Hajia Akilu, who was close to tears due to the deplorable conditions under which the children live, said they decided to donate the food items when they discovered that the children were malnourished. She said, “We have been here before on a medical mission and we discovered that some of the babies were malnourished and we decided to bring this small food. It is not really about the food but for the world to see how these people are suffering. We have them in other settlements across the city. I was at NEMA [National Emergency Management Agency] office and they were saying that they don’t have camps for them because they were not in the state capital. The point is, if we have people like this, it does not matter where they are. The government should provide facilities for them. We should have proper camping for refugees; we should make adequate provision for their children, their health care because we can’t just leave them like this. They have suffered serious trauma, some of them have seen their family members being slain. Some of them have horrible stories of walking long distances and yet, like one of them said, they are not being treated like Nigerians. We just can’t just sit back and watch. We all have to be alive to our responsibilities”. Things are better for displaced children in Kano. The state government has a credible educational intervention programme for them. Known as the Borno Orphans Model Boarding Primary School, Kano State Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso said the school was constructed under the Special Intervention Programme for orphaned children affected by the insurgency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. ‘We have been here before on a medical mission and we discovered that some of the babies were malnourished and we decided to bring this small food. It is not really about the food but for the world to see how these people are suffering. NEMA personnel were saying they didn’t have camps for them because they were not in the state capital. The point is, if we have people like this, it does not matter where they are. The government should provide proper camping for refugees; we should make adequate provisions for their children, their health care because we can’t just leave them like this’ Kwankwaso said, “The Special Intervention Programme is aimed at taking up full responsibilities of 100 children, who are between the ages of five and six whose parents are either dead, displaced or lost as a result of the insurgency”. He assured that the state government will take care of the children’s education, training, upbringing, feeding, clothing, security, health care and accommodation. He also said the government would continue to look after the children until they complete their basic education, the security situation in the states affected by the insurgency improves and when it is safe for them to return home. The governor who is heading for the senate in the in lying government said His attention was drawn to the plight of the children, who have been deprived of parental care and concern as a result of the security challenges in the Northeast by NEMA and other concerned individuals. He urged the federal and state governments and well-meaning individuals and groups to come to the aid of the orphans to make their lives more meaningful. Hope’s eye surgery deferred ANY improvement Hope on little Dimlong’s left eye since February when we published her story? Well, sort of. The three-year-old was playing with a mate near her house in Plateau State when her partner accidentally struck her in the eye with an object. Since then Hope has been in danger of not only losing the eye; she has also been screaming due to the pain. Her parents said they could not afford a surgery. Luck came her way. Although she was earlier scheduled to be taken to her grand- ‘She was playing with a mate near her house in Plateau State when her partner accidentally struck her in the eye with an object. Since then Hope has been in danger of not only losing the eye; she has also been screaming due to the pain’ From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos mother, Hope managed to join her schoolmates to receive Senator Gyang Pwajok, who was on a campaign tour of Jos North, the district he represents at the Senate. The lawmaker was the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April 11election. As Pwajok passed by, he reportedly noticed little Hope among the children and asked what happened to her left eye. Thereafter, the lawmaker arranged •Some of the children at a camp in Jos •Kids at the camp Kwankwaso is not only dealing with the educational needs of the children, but their health requirements also. He said the state Commissioner for Health has been directed to appraise the medical condition of each of the pupils with a view to identifying those that need special medical care for necessary action. There are about 1000 children at the Jos camp. Like their counterparts in Kano, life is not as dreadful as it is in several other places but they have the NGOs, not the government, to thank for that. They and their parents worry about their destroyed homes, so even as federal troops exult over recaptured villages, the IDPs remain sullen. Thus, the camps which were supposed to provide temporary shelter have become their permanent homes. that the girl be taken to hospital for treatment on his account. He had surgery in mind, but medical advice in Jos, the state capital, required that Hope be first treated with medication for some time before the surgery. The eye specialists discovered that Hope’s case had become complicated due to long delay in seeking medical attention. They recommended that before the surgery, the girl be placed on certain drugs for a period of four months before the surgery. So, Hope is receiving treatment preparatory to the surgical procedure. Her mother Christiana, the entire family and the school management are full of gratitude to Senator Pwajok. Mrs Christiana Dimlong said, “The coming of Senator Pwajok is like a miracle to me; he is God-sent. I’ve hardly slept since the accident, I keep praying for help because it is beyond my power. Because of the psychological trauma I was passing through over my daughter’s case, her grandmother was to come and pick her to the village. But God caused a delay so that divine help will come. If not for God, the girl would have been taken away and the Senator would not have met her, but God had arranged it to happen this way for her to get help, so I thank God. I thank Senator Pwajok, I never knew the senator before now; he has touched my life and that of my daughter and the entire family. The ideology of Boko Haram is to stop Nigerians from acquiring Western education, and to that extent, the insurgents have almost succeeded in the Northeast. The rampaging insurgents have not only destroyed homes in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, but have also wiped out schools. The Jos camps host over 2000 people from 132 families, all of whom are primarily concerned about survival, not schooling for their children. Some of the displaced persons are hosted by a Jos-based non-governmental organisation known as Stefanos Foundation, which is involved in human rights, advocacy, relief and rehabilitation of victims of the continuous violence in the North. Stefanos has been working in the field since 2002; the organization responded to distress calls for help by the victims who have come to trust that the organisation is able to find help for them. Programme Manager of the foundation, Mr. Mark Lipdo said, “From August 2014, many displaced persons began to migrate to Jos in trickles and were accommodated in private homes but there came a time that they became too many to accommodate, hence •Continued on page 31
THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015 31 THE NORTH REPORT Tough life for displaced kids •Continued from page 30 the organisation began a search for a property that can be used to establish an IDP camp. There are more than four IDPs camps in Plateau State.” As at December 2014, Plateau State was hosting 35,000 IDPs. The figure was released by Audu Yohanna, the North Central Zonal Information Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). A comprehensive assessment of the IDPs carried out by NEMA indicates that the IDPs are camping in different locations across five local government areas of Plateau State. In Wase, Kanam, Shendam and Mikan local government areas, 11,000 IDPs from Taraba State are camping in different locations across the four Local Government Areas. From Adamawa State, 24,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are camping in different locations across Jos North and Jos South Local Government Areas of the state”. The North Central Zonal Office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) conducted the needs assessment of the IDPs and sent its report to the Director General of the Agency for release of relief materials to ameliorate the situation of the IDPs. NEMA also confirmed that the IDPs are mostly are women and children who fled the troubled States. But the government relief materials never came, the IDPs rather depends on charitable individuals and other NGOs around the country. Mr. Lipdo said, “The IDPs need food, even if it is once a day, they need good shelter, at least to protect them from the harsh cold weather of Jos. They need clothes •Some women put to birth at the camp to cover their skin to differentiate them from mental health patients. Most importantly, the IDPs are in dire need of medical care.” Another non-governmental organisation known as Tina Bawa Ministry International came to the camp in Jos to offer free medical care to the IDPs particularly little children. There were cases of pneumonia, malaria, hepatitis, but it was also discovered that most of the male children in the camp were not circumcised at infancy. Most of them now between the age of five and 12 had to undergo the procedure at the camp. The coordinator of Tina Bawa Ministry International, Rev Mrs. Tina Bawa, who sponsored the free medical outreach said, “The ministry is a church run by myself and my husband. But like a non-governmental organization, we have program for New deal for council residents in Plateau BASSA Local Government Area of Plateau State has had an unflattering profile, often seen as one of the least developed in the state. Well, that profile is changing, thanks to its chairman Hon. David Rancha. Communities in the council are picking up: water is running, roads are paved and there is electricity. Village heads and community leaders in the council have described the recent social infrastructural development in their locality as a “breath of fresh air”. The paramount ruler of the local government and President, Bassa Traditional Rulers Council, the Utu Ugo Kiche of Rukuba Chiefdom, His Royal Highness, Ati Adamu Adiuwu said he was pleased that such developments were happening under his reign. Indeed, the people of Bassa local government have begun to witness a new lease of life. All the three districts of the local government are witnessing infrastructural development in various communities. Bassa local government is as old as 38 years, created the same time as the state. But in spite of its age, Bassa remained poorly developed, being one of the least growing in the state. This is in spite of the fact that it is one of the closest local governments to Jos, the state headquarters, as well as being the gateway to neighbouring Kaduna State. It ‘Village heads and community leaders in the council have described the recent social infrastructural development in their locality as a breath of fresh air’ From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos was believed by the residents that the backwardness of the local government had to do with poor leadership by past administrators, particularly council chairmen. The leader of the Legislative Council, Hon Mrs. Rahila Yahaya Hamza, said, “A number of chairmen have come and gone, yet the local government remained under-developed.” This explains why, when the present administration led by Hon •A borehole sunk by the Rancha administration Rancha took over the mantle of leadership, many in the local government never gave him a chance. It was believed Hon Racha would only come to warm the office and leave like his predecessors without changing their situation. That was why he was given a cold reception when he assumed office. The cold reception notwithstanding, Hon. Rancha, himself an indigene and fully acquainted with the deplorable condition of things, set to work. the welfare of the less privilege especially children and women. I was moved when I was told of the plight of the women and children in this camp. We have the penchant for helping vulnerable women and children of this nature, and we have done it in so many places across the country. It is a pity that in all crisis situation, women and children suffers the consequences. This is what is going on this camp; these innocent children have been driven out of their homes for no fault of theirs. Now a Good Samaritan assembled the IDPs in camps for government to take over their responsibility. But as you can see, government has turned their attention away from these people.” After spending five months at the camp with no hope of rehabilitation of the IDPs by government, the NGO organised a makeshift school for children of the displaced to have some elementary education. Mr. Lipdo, Programme Manager of the foundation said, “I have taken record of at least 650 children in the camp, and since they don’t have hope of going back to their homes so soon, it is good we organise a school for them in the camp, if not the camp will be so boring and life will have no meaning to these children. The NGO has procured some instructional materials like textbooks, exercise books, chalkboard for the takeoff of school lessons for the children. Like in the regular school, there are those in nursery and some in primary. Some teachers have volunteered to render service, some recruited by the NGO to teach the children. Lessons have since commenced in the camp. NEMA was once quoted as saying Equipped with good knowledge of the locality as well as their yearnings and aspirations, the new chairman had no problem in outlining the areas of priority. He made a commitment to change the feelings of the people towards governance at the third tier. He spring into action almost immediately, and today, one year after, the story of Bassa local government has changed for good. When the council chairman Hon David Rancha marked his one year ‘The children have suffered serious trauma, some of them have seen their family members being slain. Some of them have horrible stories of walking long distances and yet, like one of them said, they are not being treated like Nigerians. We just can’t just sit back and watch. We all have to be alive to our responsibilities’ that it is accommodating about 6000 children in its internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Adamawa State with about 760 of the children coming to the camp on their own, meaning that their parents either died in the attacks on their communities by insurgents or they were abandoned by their parents out of frustration. The agency also claimed that children were the most victims of the attacks. Some managed to escape, while many others were killed. For those who escaped, another hurdle awaited them in the form of daily survival. While children are not the only ones displaced as a result of the attacks, their situation is the most disturbing. There are reports of children who die from physical exertion, hunger and thirst while fleeing insurgents’ attacks. It is no news that children are usually among the worst hit in crisis situations. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) said that of the 300,000 IDPs in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, 70 per cent of them are women and children who fled their homes in early 2013. in office at Crest Hotel Jos, he merely rolled out series of unexpected achievements to the surprise of stakeholders of the local government. In the area of rural road construction, the council boss said, “As part of efforts to link rural communities and also enhance commercial activities, the administration has •Continued on page 32
Page 1 and 2: $370m Abacha NEWS loot Page 5 found
Page 3 and 4: THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015
Page 25 and 26: ’ TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015 E-mail:
Page 29: Newspaper of the Year AN 8-PAGE PUL
Page 33 and 34: TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015 Website: ht
Page 41 and 42: 42 THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 20
Page 43 and 44: 44 SHOWBIZ Artistes shine as Star l
Page 45 and 46: 46 HEALTH THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL
Page 47 and 48: 48 THE NATION TUESDAY APRIL 28, 201
Page 49 and 50: 50 THE NATION BUSINESS ENERGY fects
Page 51 and 52: 52 THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 20
Page 54 and 55: THE NATION TUESSDAY, APRIL 28, 2015
Page 62 and 63: THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL, 28, 2015

nation0428

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?