Nigeria accounts for 2,583,000 IDPs, empowers 51 in Bauchi
Story from Ahmad SAKA, Bauchi
Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development have explained that Nigeria has accounted for 2,583,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) due to violence and conflicts, just as the Ministry empowered 51 IDPs in Bauchi State.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, stated this on Thursday in Bauchi when she flagged off the Psychosocial Support and Economic Empowerment Programme for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)In Bauchi.
READ ALSO: Nigerian Gov’t distributes 110,000 relief items to resettled Borno IDPs
She said “as of January 2020 Nigeria had a total of 2,583,000 IDPs due to violence and conflict out of the 40 million displaced persons.
Represented by the Director of Social Development, Sule Aliyu, she said the support is one of the mandates of the Ministry and the implementation of the fair is focused on social inclusion programmes in Nigeria.
She said the IDPs drawn from the affected local government areas in Bauchi State will be trained in marketable skills such as tailoring, soap making, vulcanising, baking, fish farming, vaseline making, bead making and shoemaking or any marketable skill within their locality.
The minister regretted how the violence or conflicts disrupted basic social and economic activities in various communities making the need for humanitarian action inevitable.
She said the effect of the conflicts led to the displacements that came with its trademark of trauma and other social issues that have a lot of impact on the mental health of the affected persons.
Sadiya said, “the aim of this programme is to return the affected persons to their normal lives and familiar routines that engage their mental abilities to the understanding that life is gradually normalising with a view to being empowered economically to help in meeting their family needs as they exit the camp, and to give IDPs opportunities to take care of their own lives that will contribute to strengthening their psychosocial well being and ease the stress they are experiencing.”
Bauchi State Commissioner of Women Affairs, Hajiya Hajara Gidado, represented by the acting permanent secretary of the ministry, Muhammed Aliyu, said the programme is targeted at the participants who are the most vulnerable members of IDPs scattered in different camps from 19 out of the 20 local government areas of the state.
She said the programme will assist the government’s efforts towards revamping society and reduce the pressure on conventional employment responsibility.
The chairman of IDPs in Bauchi State, Musa Shehu, urged more support for IDPs from the federal government to enable them to return to normal life and expressed gratitude to all stakeholders that made the programme a reality.
Follow the Neptune Prime channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va74ZvU2v1IqKByXoX3d
Do you have breaking news, interview request, opinion, suggestion, or want your event covered? Email us at neptuneprime2233@gmail.com
