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THE NATION TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015 31<br />
THE NORTH REPORT<br />
Tough life<br />
for displaced<br />
kids<br />
•Continued from page 30<br />
the organisation began a search<br />
for a property that can be used to<br />
establish an IDP camp. There are<br />
more than four IDPs camps in Plateau<br />
State.”<br />
As at December 2014, Plateau<br />
State was hosting 35,000 IDPs. The<br />
figure was released by Audu<br />
Yohanna, the North Central Zonal<br />
Information Officer of the National<br />
Emergency Management<br />
Agency (NEMA).<br />
A comprehensive assessment of<br />
the IDPs carried out by NEMA indicates<br />
that the IDPs are camping<br />
in different locations across five<br />
local government areas of Plateau<br />
State. In Wase, Kanam, Shendam<br />
and Mikan local government areas,<br />
11,000 IDPs from Taraba State<br />
are camping in different locations<br />
across the four Local Government<br />
Areas. From Adamawa State,<br />
24,000 Internally Displaced Persons<br />
(IDPs) are camping in different<br />
locations across Jos North and<br />
Jos South Local Government Areas<br />
of the state”.<br />
The North Central Zonal Office<br />
of the National Emergency Management<br />
Agency (NEMA) conducted<br />
the needs assessment of the<br />
IDPs and sent its report to the Director<br />
General of the Agency for<br />
release of relief materials to ameliorate<br />
the situation of the IDPs.<br />
NEMA also confirmed that the<br />
IDPs are mostly are women and<br />
children who fled the troubled<br />
States.<br />
But the government relief materials<br />
never came, the IDPs rather depends<br />
on charitable individuals and<br />
other NGOs around the country.<br />
Mr. Lipdo said, “The IDPs need<br />
food, even if it is once a day, they<br />
need good shelter, at least to protect<br />
them from the harsh cold<br />
weather of Jos. They need clothes<br />
•Some women put to birth at the camp<br />
to cover their skin to differentiate<br />
them from mental health patients.<br />
Most importantly, the IDPs are in dire<br />
need of medical care.”<br />
Another non-governmental<br />
organisation known as Tina Bawa<br />
Ministry International came to the<br />
camp in Jos to offer free medical care<br />
to the IDPs particularly little children.<br />
There were cases of pneumonia,<br />
malaria, hepatitis, but it was also discovered<br />
that most of the male children<br />
in the camp were not circumcised<br />
at infancy. Most of them now<br />
between the age of five and 12 had to<br />
undergo the procedure at the camp.<br />
The coordinator of Tina Bawa Ministry<br />
International, Rev Mrs. Tina<br />
Bawa, who sponsored the free medical<br />
outreach said, “The ministry is a<br />
church run by myself and my husband.<br />
But like a non-governmental<br />
organization, we have program for<br />
New deal for council<br />
residents in Plateau<br />
BASSA Local Government<br />
Area of Plateau State has had<br />
an unflattering profile, often<br />
seen as one of the least developed<br />
in the state.<br />
Well, that profile is changing,<br />
thanks to its chairman Hon. David<br />
Rancha. Communities in the council<br />
are picking up: water is running,<br />
roads are paved and there is electricity.<br />
Village heads and community leaders<br />
in the council have described<br />
the recent social infrastructural development<br />
in their locality as a<br />
“breath of fresh air”.<br />
The paramount ruler of the local<br />
government and President, Bassa<br />
Traditional Rulers Council, the Utu<br />
Ugo Kiche of Rukuba Chiefdom,<br />
His Royal Highness, Ati Adamu<br />
Adiuwu said he was pleased that<br />
such developments were happening<br />
under his reign.<br />
Indeed, the people of Bassa local<br />
government have begun to witness<br />
a new lease of life.<br />
All the three districts of the local<br />
government are witnessing<br />
infrastructural development in various<br />
communities.<br />
Bassa local government is as old<br />
as 38 years, created the same time<br />
as the state. But in spite of its age,<br />
Bassa remained poorly developed,<br />
being one of the least growing in<br />
the state. This is in spite of the fact<br />
that it is one of the closest local governments<br />
to Jos, the state headquarters,<br />
as well as being the gateway<br />
to neighbouring Kaduna State. It<br />
‘Village heads<br />
and community<br />
leaders in the<br />
council have<br />
described the<br />
recent social<br />
infrastructural<br />
development in<br />
their locality as<br />
a breath of<br />
fresh air’<br />
From Yusufu Aminu Idegu, Jos<br />
was believed by the residents that<br />
the backwardness of the local government<br />
had to do with poor leadership<br />
by past administrators, particularly<br />
council chairmen.<br />
The leader of the Legislative Council,<br />
Hon Mrs. Rahila Yahaya Hamza,<br />
said, “A number of chairmen have<br />
come and gone, yet the local government<br />
remained under-developed.”<br />
This explains why, when the<br />
present administration led by Hon<br />
•A borehole sunk by the Rancha administration<br />
Rancha took over the mantle of leadership,<br />
many in the local government<br />
never gave him a chance. It was believed<br />
Hon Racha would only come<br />
to warm the office and leave like his<br />
predecessors without changing their<br />
situation. That was why he was given<br />
a cold reception when he assumed<br />
office. The cold reception notwithstanding,<br />
Hon. Rancha, himself an<br />
indigene and fully acquainted with<br />
the deplorable condition of things,<br />
set to work.<br />
the welfare of the less privilege especially<br />
children and women. I was<br />
moved when I was told of the plight<br />
of the women and children in this<br />
camp. We have the penchant for helping<br />
vulnerable women and children<br />
of this nature, and we have done it in<br />
so many places across the country. It<br />
is a pity that in all crisis situation,<br />
women and children suffers the consequences.<br />
This is what is going on<br />
this camp; these innocent children<br />
have been driven out of their homes<br />
for no fault of theirs. Now a Good<br />
Samaritan assembled the IDPs in<br />
camps for government to take over<br />
their responsibility. But as you can<br />
see, government has turned their attention<br />
away from these people.”<br />
After spending five months at the<br />
camp with no hope of rehabilitation<br />
of the IDPs by government, the NGO<br />
organised a makeshift school for children<br />
of the displaced to have some<br />
elementary education. Mr. Lipdo,<br />
Programme Manager of the foundation<br />
said, “I have taken record of at<br />
least 650 children in the camp, and<br />
since they don’t have hope of going<br />
back to their homes so soon, it is good<br />
we organise a school for them in the<br />
camp, if not the camp will be so boring<br />
and life will have no meaning to<br />
these children.<br />
The NGO has procured some instructional<br />
materials like textbooks,<br />
exercise books, chalkboard for the<br />
takeoff of school lessons for the children.<br />
Like in the regular school, there<br />
are those in nursery and some in primary.<br />
Some teachers have volunteered<br />
to render service, some recruited<br />
by the NGO to teach the children.<br />
Lessons have since commenced<br />
in the camp.<br />
NEMA was once quoted as saying<br />
Equipped with good knowledge of<br />
the locality as well as their yearnings<br />
and aspirations, the new chairman<br />
had no problem in outlining the<br />
areas of priority. He made a commitment<br />
to change the feelings of the<br />
people towards governance at the<br />
third tier. He spring into action almost<br />
immediately, and today, one<br />
year after, the story of Bassa local<br />
government has changed for good.<br />
When the council chairman Hon<br />
David Rancha marked his one year<br />
‘The children have<br />
suffered serious<br />
trauma, some of<br />
them have seen their<br />
family members<br />
being slain. Some of<br />
them have horrible<br />
stories of walking<br />
long distances and<br />
yet, like one of them<br />
said, they are not<br />
being treated like<br />
Nigerians. We just<br />
can’t just sit back and<br />
watch. We all have<br />
to be alive to our<br />
responsibilities’<br />
that it is accommodating about 6000<br />
children in its internally displaced<br />
persons (IDPs) camps in Adamawa<br />
State with about 760 of the children<br />
coming to the camp on their own,<br />
meaning that their parents either<br />
died in the attacks on their communities<br />
by insurgents or they were<br />
abandoned by their parents out of<br />
frustration.<br />
The agency also claimed that children<br />
were the most victims of the<br />
attacks. Some managed to escape,<br />
while many others were killed. For<br />
those who escaped, another hurdle<br />
awaited them in the form of daily<br />
survival. While children are not the<br />
only ones displaced as a result of<br />
the attacks, their situation is the<br />
most disturbing. There are reports<br />
of children who die from physical<br />
exertion, hunger and thirst while<br />
fleeing insurgents’ attacks. It is no<br />
news that children are usually<br />
among the worst hit in crisis situations.<br />
The United Nations Office for<br />
the Coordination of Humanitarian<br />
Assistance (UNOCHA) said that of<br />
the 300,000 IDPs in Borno, Yobe and<br />
Adamawa states, 70 per cent of them<br />
are women and children who fled<br />
their homes in early 2013.<br />
in office at Crest Hotel Jos, he<br />
merely rolled out series of unexpected<br />
achievements to the surprise<br />
of stakeholders of the local government.<br />
In the area of rural road construction,<br />
the council boss said, “As part<br />
of efforts to link rural communities<br />
and also enhance commercial<br />
activities, the administration has<br />
•Continued on page 32