KADUNA- Although there are several IDP camps in Kaduna State, a visit to one of the camps in Maraban Rido in Chikun local government area will in no doubt leave you in tears over their pathetic situations. The said IDP camp which houses displaced persons from over 20 affected communities in Chikun and Kajuru local government areas of Kaduna State have over 4,000 displaced persons living in a camp that ordinarily should not accommodate more than 100 persons.
The more pathetic situation concerns children who are of school ages but are forced out of school because either they are orphans or those whose breadwinners were killed. A larger number of the IDPs survive at the mercy of spirited individuals, civil society organisations (CSOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Some of the IDPs narrate their pathetic ordeals and solicited for government intervention.
A 13-year-old Sandra Yohanna who could not control her tears while narrating her ordeal in the camp said, her mother usually put salt in water for her and her siblings to drink and sleep because there was no food in the house.
“My mother gave birth to 10 of us. We were kidnapped in 2021. My parents sold all our property to pay ransom; we don’t have any food at home. All of us are no longer going to school because my mother cannot afford to pay our school fees. Sometimes my mother will put salt in water and ask us to drink and sleep because there is nothing to eat,” she said.
Also, a 35-year-old mother of 5, Esther Eno appealed to the government to help them, saying that she has stayed up to two years in the camp and life has been miserable to her and her children.
“I want to go back to my ancestral home to continue with my farming business. We are tired of suffering here,” she stated.
Another young lady of about 18 years, Dorcas Danjuma who also narrated her ordeal said “as a lady, life here in the camp is not easy. Our parents cannot afford to buy even sanitary pads for us to use during our monthly flow. Sometimes, I use pieces of clothes; sometimes I get stained during my monthly period because I don’t even have enough clothes to use as sanitary pad. We are 10 in number sleeping in a room. There was a time my brother was infected with chicken pox, all of us suffered the same sickness because we sleep in a non-ventilated room,” she said.
For Rejoice Amos 19, “men run away from us the young ladies because we are displaced. The men usually said to us that they want educated ladies and not the displaced girls.”
A 70-year-old man, Musa Shehu, narrated how he had to sell all his property to raise N4 million as ransom to rescue his 11 children, lamenting that life has not been fair to him.
“I sold all I had to rescue my children and today I can’t even feed at 70 years. I can’t even afford money for my medications; I’m only waiting ‘for my time to come’ because this life is not treating us well here,” he bemoaned.
Sequel to the pathetic situations of the IDPs, some NGOs had visited the IDP camp in Maraban Rido and donated food items and other essentials to the IDPs. Some of such NGOs include Justice Development and Peace Caritas (JDPC), Eko Smile Support and Empowerment Initiative (ESSEI) and several others and contributed substantially towards ameliorating their plights.
The JDPC coordinator in Kaduna State, Rev. Fr. Joshua Achir who donated food items and sanitary pads worth about N2 million to the IDPs, said it is their modest way of helping the IDPs.
Also, the founder of Eko Smile Support and Empowerment Initiative (ESSEI), Blessing Eko Sunday who also gave a helping hand to the IDPs however appealed to the government and other well-to-do individuals in the society to also find it in their hearts to help not only the IDPs but to help the vulnerable and under-privileged persons in the society.
In a chat with the coordinator of the IDP camp in Maraban Rido, Kaduna, Mr Adams Sule confirmed that there are over 2,500 children in the camp and most of the children are orphans and several of the women are widows because their fathers and husbands were killed by bandits while the rest are widowers whose wives could not survive the attacks of the bandits.
“There are over 4,000 IDPs in Maraban Rido. The major challenge here is hunger. The IDPs are suffering; our children can no longer go to school because our sources of income which is farming, the bandits have taken it away from us. In this camp, some of the IDPs sleep 20 in a room, some 15 while some 10. We also pay for the accomodations which is not easy here. Some children are facing malnutrition. We also have children who are sickle cell patients,” he said.
In view of the pathetic situation of the IDPs, the need for government at all levels to step up efforts in ensuring that activities of bandits and other criminal activities are brought to the minimal level cannot be over emphasised. Allowing the IDPs to pass through such traumatic experiences at various camps for situations not their making is certainly worrisome and the government at all levels, individuals and organisations must intervene to help their situations.
The right to education must be accorded to the children and particularly orphans who are out of school, while the women need to be empowered with skills or whatever it takes to make life meaningful to them. The men also should not be left out. Therefore, there must be an inclusive package that will now or in the future give them a sense of belonging as citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria
