Abuja – Chief Olisa Metuh, National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Friday donated relief materials to the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Metuh donated the relief materials to the IDPs located at Waza Camp, in the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) of the FCT, to mark his 50th birthday anniversary.
Metuh, who will be clocking 50 on Saturday, said he was at the camp to share in their feelings and challenges, irrespective of the difference in religion, ethnic and political divide.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some of the donated items were bags of rice, milk, bottled water, packs of tomatoes, packs of Maggi cubes, bags of salt, juice, soft drinks and cooked food.
Metuh, who was in the camp with his wife, said that he felt the challenges confronting the people, and pledged to dig a borehole in the camp for the people to have access to drinkable water.
“First, we need to find out from government if this is a permanent camp or not.
“ If there is any other place the people are going to be moved to in the next few months, we can dig the borehole there, if not we will do it here,’’ Metuh said.
He also pledged to partner with relevant individuals, groups, government and the international community, to meet some of their other basic needs and challenges.
The basic needs, according to Metuh, include access to healthcare, quality education and accommodation.
“I also pray that government, political and religious leaders, as well as business leaders, would deem it necessary to assist the IDPs,’’ he said.
NAN also reports that Metuh at the occasion cut his 50th birthday anniversary cake with the displaced people, and he also ate with them.
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Mrs Hassan Amina, relief and rehabilitation officer of the Nigeria Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Abuja operation service, commended Metuh for coming to the aid of the people in the camp.
“Others have been coming to assist the IDPs, but this is the biggest from an individual,’’ Amina said.
Amina said that though there were no government designated camps in Abuja, NEMA and other government agencies had been doing their best to care for the IDP,s.
“This is just a temporary camp, the Federal Government is trying to relocate them to formal IDPs camps,’’ she said.
Some of the IDPs who benefited from the relief materials, in interviews with NAN, commended Metuh for deeming it necessary to donate to their needs, and they wished him well in his future endeavours.
Mrs Amina Haruna, a mother of two, said she thank God for all Nigerians and institutions that had visited the camp to assist them.
Haruna, who claimed she had been in the camp for one year and three months, said her desire was for her home town to regain its peace, so that she could return home.
She said that the camp needed health facilities as they were still going to nearby villages to buy drugs whenever they were ill. (NAN)
