By Scholastica Joseph
The Benue state government has decried the huge humanitarian crisis in the state, saying 80 percent of children of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs in Benue State are currently out of school.
The Executive Secretary of State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Emmanuel Shior, disclosed this last Thursday during the distribution of food and non-food items to IDPs across the state.
While Governor Samuel Ortom had stated that over 1.5 million IDPs live in camps and host communities in Benue, Shior said that due to the serious attacks on communities and continuous stay of displaced persons in camps, the state government established emergency schools but said that such schools could only accommodate 20 percent of the children of displaced persons.
The SEMA boss further said that several communities in Guma, Logo, Okpokwu, Kwande, Agatu and other council areas have their schools shut down as a result of incessant herdsmen attacks.
Shior said, “We have so many communities in the state where schools are not in session infact all 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.
“To talk of percentage of children in school out of school in the state, only 20 percent of children are in school with the arrangements of emergency schools.
Shior decried the little attention been paid to the humanitarian crisis in the state compared to North East by federal government.
“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 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 said out of the food items; 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 with 24 cans in each cartoon.
