116,000 displaced persons in Yobe, says NEMA

There are 116,000 people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency in Yobe State, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said yesterday.

Relief items worth N500m have been distributed to the 116,000 internally displaced persons by the Presidential Committee on Relief Procurement and Distribution.

The agency, in a statement yesterday, said the Federal Government approved N1.5bn for the special committee under NEMA’s chairmanship.

While distributing the relief materials in Damaturu, NEMA Director General Sani Sidi, who is also the PCRP chairman, said the items were procured based on identified basic needs of the people.

According to him, proper arrangements had been made to ensure direct distribution to the target beneficiaries, adding that the items would be distributed by NEMA officials in collaboration with officials of the Yobe State government and the Nigerian Red Cross.

Sidi, who was represented by the agency’s Director of Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Alhassan Nuhu, said another consignment was in Gashua for distribution to the IDPs in the northern areas of the state.

He said about 15,000 displaced persons were in Damaturu while others were in various locations across the state.

Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Abdu Bulama, said the relief items were in furtherance of the fight against insurgency and provision of necessary support to those affected by the security challenge in the NorthEast.

Yobe State Governor, Mr. Ibrahim Geidam, who was represented by his deputy Abubakar Aliyu assured that the state would cooperate with the Federal Government to address the security challenge and support the affected persons

He had announced over the weekend that since the inception of the Boko Haram insurgency the state had expended over N10 billion.

Aliyu who spoke during Dr. Bulama’s visit lamented that the huge amount of money the state is sinking on the fight of the insurgency is becoming a source of concern especially considering the meagre allocation the state gets from the federation account.

He said the state spends approximately N300million monthly for logistics of military personnel, adding that the state had also distributed relief material worth sum of N430milion for internally displaced people.

He urged the Federal Government which he described as a ‘big brother’ to come to Yobe’s rescue by allocating special grant to enable the state continue its amelioration programme.