Emmanuel Ukumba in Lafia
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has told the displaced Tiv farmers in Nasarawa State that government’s preoccupation on their issue is to look at what plan would enable them to go back to their homes.
The vice-president stated this Wednesday when he was on an assessment visit to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps accommodating Tiv farmers who were displaced due to attacks on their communities by suspected herdsmen in the recent times.
He said: “The main problem is to make sure you return back to your homes and to be safe and secured. I know that been at IDPs camp is not good for anybody. Children have to go to school and adults have to go to the farm or do whatever business they have been doing.
“We as a government is to make sure that you are safe and you are able to do your work in peace and in comfort. We have been here since yesterday (Tuesday) to make sure that you are safe to return home, settle there and do your work peacefuly.”
However, he said that in the meantime while the displaced farmers were at the IDP camps, government would expect that all their comfortvneeds in a few days, in terms of relief materials, were provided.
“That is why I have with me the director general of National Emmergancy Management Agency (NEMA) and the executive secretary of Relief Commission. The director general of NEMA already informed me that some of the relief materials have arrived Lafia,” Osinbajo said.
The vice-president reiterated that “we want to make sure that peace returns to Nasarawa, Benue and other states where there had been farmers-herdsmen crisis. Both the governments of Nasarawa and Benue States will be coming together with their security council to rub mind as how to bring permanent peace. I will also be attending the
meeting”.
He continued that though the herdsmen-farmers crisis had been on for many years, but according to him, “no matter how anything continues, it must come to an end one day. And by the grace of God, this will come to an
end now”.
The vice-president therefore assured the displaced Tiv farmers of government’s resolve to support them in their farms, trading activities so that they could settle in their homes comfortably.
“The suffering that many of you have experienced is enough and we must begin to look for a brighter, abundant and happier future, not just for you alone, but all these little children who are here,” he maintained.
In his remark, Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura blamed the recent crisis on the anti-grazing law passed in Benue State which has caused much destructions in the state’s system.
He said: “This is because the voluminous migration and quantum of people moving from Benue State to Nasarawa State has never been seen in the history of the state.
“At a point, we had over 20 IDP camps housing over 25,000 displaced persons.”
