Following attacks on Benue communities by militia herdsmen, over 80 percent of children of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in Benue State are out of school.
The Executive Secretary of State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Emmanuel Shior, disclosed this on Thursday during the distribution of food and non food items to displaced persons across the state.
The Next Edition recalls that Governor Samuel Ortom had, severally, said that Benue has over 1.5 million IDPs, most of whom are living in IDPs camps and host communities.
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Shior noted that due to the serious attacks on communities and continuous stay of displaced persons in camps, the state government established emergency schools but that such schools could only accommodate 20 percent of the children of displaced persons.
Shior said, “We have so many communities in the state where schools are not in session infact some communities in Guma LG were deserted except that our people are strong and don’t fear death so they still return to the communities but not safe for children so in many communities children are not there.
“Though, we have emergency schools in few areas like Abagena and Daudu but locations such as Torkula and some other parts of Guma, Logo, Agatu, Okpokwu, Kwande and some other places, schools are not in session.
Shior decried the little attention been paid to the humanitarian crisis in the state compared to North East by federal government saying “Federal government has not paid attention to the challenges of IDP in Benue State, whereas, the humanitarian crisis in Benue is similar to the challenges of IDP in the North East.
“But so much attention has been paid to North East by the federal government and majority of the international partners that are in Nigeria to assist federal and State governments to address these challenges have been directed to pay more attention on the North East that is why you don’t see some of them here,” SEMA boss said.
He noted that out of the food items; as beans, rice, noodles and yam, being distributed to displaced persons on Thursday, federal government through the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, only gave 1,000 cartoons of can beef which contains 24 cans in each cartoon.
