Inside Edo orphanage housing North East IDPs, others

Living a good life in Nigeria with the current economic situation is difficult which then makes one wonder how the Coordinator of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Edo State, Pastor Solomon Folorunsho, is taking care of the over 3,000 inmates.  The camp christened Home for the Needy Foundation was established in 2006 by […]

Living a good life in Nigeria with the current economic situation is difficult which then makes one wonder how the Coordinator of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in Edo State, Pastor Solomon Folorunsho, is taking care of the over 3,000 inmates. 

The camp christened Home for the Needy Foundation was established in 2006 by Pastor Folorunsho who is the General Overseer of the International Christian Centre.

Located in Ughogua in Ovia North East Local Government Area, the home houses IDPs from the North East and the Middle Belt, as well as children from broken homes and orphans from the South.

The home, according to Daily Trust on Sunday findings, has primary and secondary schools for the inmates, and the schools accept children from the community where the home is located.

The home also has a clinic with nurses but is always short of drugs.

Daily Trust on Sunday gathered that the over 3,000 inmates of the home are faced with the challenges of food, education, drugs, instructional materials, accommodation, clothes, among others.

It was learnt that the inmates consumed over two bags of rice in one meal and that the meals are moderately served in order to reach every member of the home.

Due to their number, it was gathered that the management designed a feeding method to ensure that the younger ones are not denied of their meal by the older ones.

“We have grouped them according to age in 50 groups to ensure that there is no survival of the fittest situation during meals, and also for the satisfaction of every member of the home.”

It was observed that most of the accommodation structures in the camp are made of wood, while about 100 persons occupy a dormitory. The camp is divided into two sections with females occupying one and males the other and the sections are 300 metres apart.

To ensure the education of the children of the camp and its environs, the coordinator established the primary and secondary schools. 

Speaking with Daily Trust on Sunday, Pastor Folorunsho said he established the home because of his experience while growing up as a child.

He said the home was making a difference in the lives of people who were homeless, fatherless and motherless, children from broken homes. 

Pastor Folorunsho said, “Children who were written off are now graduates; practicing lawyers, and that gives me satisfaction. One of them is a legal officer with the Edo State Ministry of Justice.”

However, Pastor Folorunsho noted that the challenges in the home were enormous and that the most critical of them were food and education.

Pastor Solomon said due to their number sometimes it was difficult to eat three square meals a day.

“The large population here are kids who don’t have families, and you don’t expect them to do certain things adults can do to get food. So the challenge of food is still there because they have to eat.

“What we have in our store currently is not enough for us because of the population. In a single meal for instance, if we want to eat rice, we cook over two bags so that the food can go round.

“At times, the elderly go to bed on empty stomachs so that the children can eat. We need food to feed the children,” he explained. 

“We also need sanitary pads for girls who have come of age, ee also need books, clothes, shoes, among others,” he added.  

The camp coordinator said the home needed money to sponsor the education of the children for them to be useful to society.

“We need money to pay school fees, accommodation and buying of instructional materials for those in higher institutions, primary and secondary schools.

“About 97 children are in different universities, 25 of them are in the Edo State University, 40 in University of Benin, some are in Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Maiduguri, among others. 

“More than 50 have enrolled to write post-UME. I have discovered that if you give people the right environment and same standard of education they can produce the same result.

“In the next three to five years we will be realsing between 12 and 15 medical doctors and 15 lawyers from here as some of them are already in 400-level,” he explained. 

He said when the children from the North came to the camp, most of them could not speak English and were even reluctant going to school due to fear of not being able to compete with their Southern counterparts, but that today they were competing favourably. 

With the overwhelming challenges confronting the home, Pastor Folorunsho said, “We need money and scholarship to see those in school through, for those who are about to write post-UME and to pay teachers in our primary and secondary schools.”

According to him, they rely on donations from individuals and organisations for food, but that, “Since the advent of COVID-19, getting funds to do these things has been very tough; to the extent that we are now owing. We even take loan from banks to complete their education. 

“Our teachers in primary and secondary schools have not been paid, many of them have resigned, but we have 14 corps members and some staff who have refused to resign hoping things will get better.”

He further said, “Nigerians have been taken care of them; even school children do bring books, pencils for the children, Christians, Muslims, churches and mosques, organisations and corporate bodies have been sustaining us here.

“We have nurses deployed here by the local government council and those employed by the home. We need drugs to take care of the health needs of the children.”

According to Pastor Folorunsho, the inmates of the camp need accommodation as about 100 persons are currently sleeping in a room.

He explained that the management divided the home in two sections with females on one side and the males on other one, adding that they were over 300 metres apart.

“They only meet in school, fellowship or when everybody is with me; because I love children very well, and we play together. We don’t allow chances that would enable them to misbehave” he explained.

While commending Nigerians, corporate bodies, government, among others for the help so far, he appealed to all to come to the aid of the children so that their dreams would not be truncated.