Return of Peace: Yobe closes last IDP camp in Damaturu
As part of the return of peace in the State, Yobe State Government has closed the last Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camp, Pompomari, in Damaturu on Wednesday morning.
In his address on the occasion of the closure of the IDP Camp, the Permanent Secretary, Yobe State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Musa Idi Jidawa, explained that the IDP Camp in Pompomari was established on March 27, 2015 by the state government following a midnight insurgents attack in six communities, namely, Ambiya Kura, Ambiya Bulabulin, Ambiya Tasha, Sharri and Turo Kura of Gujba Local Government Area.
He said the camp had a total population of 4,211 as at the time it was established “however due to the provision of incentives like food items, transport money and cash assistance to IDPs willing to leave the Camp to pursue their means of livelihood, a total of 2,897 IDPs voluntarily left the Camp.”
The SEMA Permanent Secretary said the camp has a population of 1,314 IDPs with 318 Heads of Household and 996 dependents.
He further revealed that since the establishment of the camp, over three years ago, it was the state government that has catered for the feeding, routine upkeep and provision of other basic necessities of life to the IDPs with complimenting support by Federal Government agencies like NEMA, VSF, PINE, PCNI, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRMI), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), National Directorate of Employment (NDE) and the Future Assured, a pet project of the wife of the President, Hajiya Aisha Buhari.
Others according to him were UN agencies like UNICEF, UNHCR, UNFPA, and WFP, International and local NGOs like ICRC, ACF, NRCS, and SMYLE.
Others he mentioned were the Ministries, Departments and Agencies like Education, Health, Women Affairs, RUWASA, SUBEB, PHCMB and SACA.
He said, “Donations and assistance to the Camp were also received from MTN Nigeria Limited, , First Bank Nigeria Plc, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), JNI headquarters Kaduna, Sardauna foundation, peace rehabilitation and reconciliation initiative (RRI), Egyptian and Chinese Ambassadors to Nigeria as well as corporate bodies and philanthropic individuals both within and outside the state.”
Jidawa also said that Yobe State government has so far expended the sum of over N140,000,000 for the establishment/take-off feeding and routine medical upkeep with special referrals to the state specialist hospital, Yobe State University Teaching Hospital (YSUTH), University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) and Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Maiduguri for the 4,211 IDPs that stayed in the Camp.
On their return package, he stated that the state government has prepared 743 bags of 50kg rice, 596 Jerry cans of 25 litres vegetable oil, 541 cartons of tomato paste, 370 cartons of bathing soap, 1,000 pieces of mosquito nets, 1,272 pieces of nylon mats, 60 bales of used clothes and cash assistance of N9,110,000 to be shared among the 318 heads of household-based family size.
