THE MANAGEMENT OF IDP CAMPS

 The authorities must do more to improve conditions in the displaced persons camps

It is high time government, at all levels, took concrete steps to stop the misery of inhabitants of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across the country by swiftly reforming the intervention strategy to ensure that funds, foods and other provisions are utilised strictly for that purpose. Perhaps it may also help to streamline the agencies and processes for the management of these camps. A starting point should be a proper audit with a view to harmonising their operations and removing the overlaps that create confusion and encourage unwholesome practices. Such an exercise can start from Benue State where the management of these camps is being called to question by many of the inhabitants.

In the past few months, the state has been a graveyard of innocent children, women, and indeed men – victims of incessant conflict and unprovoked attacks by suspected herders. With hundreds of thousands of survivors now in the various camps that have been created to temporarily shelter them, allegations are rife that some officials are taking advantage of these unfortunate citizens. The Makurdi–Lafia highway was last Tuesday taken over by hundreds of IDPs to protest alleged lack of food and other necessities. Chanting, ‘We are hungry’, ‘We want to go back home,’ among others, the protesters said they wanted to draw the government’s attention to their plight. Although the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA) has responded by saying there was no hunger in the camps, this is a familiar problem that requires an urgent solution not only in Benue but also across the country.

 The case has also been variously made for a more professional approach to the handling of the situation. Internal displacement not being an exclusive Nigerian phenomenon means that there are global best practices. Nigeria should tap into that in the interest of its suffering citizens even as we call for the immediate arrest and prosecution of all officials and their collaborators who divert funds, foods and other provisions for IDPs into private use. Unless the government brings to justice those who abuse their office and profit from the misery of the hapless IDPs, impunity would not only persist but would also be seen as a rewarding culture. All critical stakeholders must also rise to join the efforts to rehabilitate our compatriots who have been displaced and are in distress because of the violence that defines this season in the country.

Meanwhile, there must be an end to these indiscriminate and unwarranted killings that portray Nigeria in bad light before the international community. In the aftermath of the enduring violence, children, women and the elderly are either killed or maimed with the lucky ones forced to flee their communities to the growing numbers of IDP camps whose populations are gradually being abandoned to their fate. That certainly cannot be acceptable to any decent society.

With thousands of people sleeping outside in the open and others in overcrowded places, the conditions of the IDPs are dire, harsh and increasingly becoming critical. Food is rationed and access to basic hygiene and health services is limited. The challenges are accentuated by the ineffectiveness of the several agencies of government saddled with the responsibility of soothing the pains of the victims. There are also reports of the startling abuses to which women and girls are subjected in the camps. Authorities in the country must deal with these existential challenges in the IDP camps. We cannot abandon the most vulnerable of our citizens at their hour of need.