Benue IDPs recount eviction by LG chairman, harsh conditions

The Benue State government said on Tuesday that it would partner stakeholders to provide food and shelter for a large number of unregistered internally displaced persons found in Makurdi, the state capital.

Our correspondent reported on Tuesday that the IDPs created a makeshift camp on Tse-Yandev, close to Federal Housing Estate at North Bank, and lived under palm trees, while women used their wrappers as curtain.

One of them, Mrs Ukuma Jooji from Kasevo council ward, in the Guma Local Government Area, said she and few others had been at the camp since December 2020.

She disclosed that they were displaced after an attack by suspected herdsmen on the community during which she lost her son, lamenting the harsh condition in the camp.

Chairman of the camp John Azenda said most of them have been displaced since 2018.

He added that they moved to the new location on December 10, 2020, after been evicted from a makeshift camp near 72 Battalion barracks.

“The Makurdi LGA chairman, Tony Idyege, told us that he wanted to build a market and told us to move to this place. I am from Uvir council ward in Guma LGA.

“We are over 847 households,1,000 children and 10 elderly persons.

The Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, Emmanuel Shior said, “The state government intends to collaborate with ActionAid, as well as Doctors Without Borders, to provide shelter and water for the displaced persons.”