House Solicits Refugee Camps for Victims of Boko Haram

 By Muhammad Bello 

The Border Area Development Commission and the National Refugees Commission have been charged by the House of Representatives to establish camps for victims of Boko Haram attacks in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States.

The action of the House was prompted by a motion brought by Hon. Abdulrahman Terab (APC, Borno), who said the mayhem in the three states had led to the destruction of lives and property and had since assumed an alarming level.

Noting that the United Nations Office in Nigeria recently put the figure of those directly affected at about six million, he said the number of towns and villages being deserted had also increased.

According to him, about four million, including women and children are internally displaced and require “basic healthcare, sanitation, shelter and food.”

According to him, “due to lack of data and necessary information about the displaced persons and the scale of the crises, the number of these people is growing daily and some of them even gave birth in open space or under trees, where they are currently being kept but no effort has been put in place for better health facility and accommodation.

“This has made them vulnerable to various hazards such as snake bites and other diseases such as cholera, diarrhea etc more especially the children and women,” he said.

Supporting the motion, Hon. Jerry Manwe (PDP, Taraba), flayed the agencies saddled with the responsibility of providing succour to the displaced persons, saying if they had been doing their jobs, there would have been no need to bring up such a motion.

But Hon. Bitrus Kaze (PDP, Plateau) kicked against the motion, arguing that locating displaced persons in camps would put their lives in danger as insurgents would target them easily since they are crowded in one place.