Abuja -The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday donated relief materials worth millions of Naira to Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs) taking refuge at the Wassa Camp in Abuja.
The initiative was part of activities to mark the Day of the African Child.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Khadijat Abba-Ibrahim, while delivering the materials to over 5,000 IDPs, said the gesture was the ministry’s contribution to the displaced persons.
The materials donated include rice, oil, toiletries, mats and medicines.
Abba-Ibrahim said the initiative was championed by women in the ministry under her leadership, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama.
She said “we thought it was appropriate that the ministry contributes its quota to the IDPs and the ministry decided to do this to show the humanitarian aspect of our lives.
“It is worthy of note that these people were displaced, forced to leave their places, most of them since 2009.
“We have decided to contribute our own widow’s mite.”
The minister expressed the hope that the IDPs would soon be relocated to their different homes and towns with the help of the policy put in place by the present administration.
She added that government was making efforts to ensure that the IDPs were taken care of.
She said the National Emergency Management Agency was always around, as well as the National Agency for Control of Aids (NACA) and representatives of the Ministry of Health to ensure proper care of the IDPS.
The Chairman of the camp, Alhaji Hamman Bukar, commended the minister and her team for the gesture, saying it would go a long way in alleviating their suffering.
Bukar said that the camp had been in total distress as it received no support from any individual for almost five months.
He said that the last support the camp received was that of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara in January.
He added that apart from food and other materials, the IDPs needed medical facilities and school for about 2,119 of the children there.
The chairman, who said that the camp was accommodating 5,119 IDPs, called for medical support for the women, especially during child delivery.
He urged well meaning Nigerians from the North to come to their aid. (NAN)
