Tough question from north-east idp camps: ‘How long shall we live in refugee camps?’

Borno “There is no place like home. We are being served three meals a day and we are not faced with any health challenges but we want to go back to our villages so that we can start all over again,” a displaced person from Damboa, Mustapha Hamsami said.Musa Mohammed, a displaced man from Bama […]

Borno

“There is no place like home. We are being served three meals a day and we are not faced with any health challenges but we want to go back to our villages so that we can start all over again,” a displaced person from Damboa, Mustapha Hamsami said.
Musa Mohammed, a displaced man from Bama town, which was taken over by the Boko Haram insurgents on September 1st  said he was yet to see his two wives and 12 children.
Mohammed, who spoke to our correspondents at the NYSC orientation camp, said he could not sleep in the past one week because he was not certain about the condition of his family.
“I am in pain, I am sick…in fact, I am confused because I don’t know whether my family members are dead or kidnapped. This is because, since over a week ago, I did not see any of my two wives while only one out of my 13 children has been found.
“I am still living but have lost my composure, I find it difficult to eat despite the fact that the Borno State government and NEMA are really taking care of us.
“My prayer is, may the Almighty rescue my family because I don’t know what life would look like if I didn’t see them again. I am appealing to the Federal Government of Nigeria and well -meaning government all over the world to come to our rescue,” Mohammed said.
Some of the displaced people who spoke with Sunday Trust lamented that they have not been sleeping well because some of their family members are still missing.
They complained of being idle and pleaded with government to restore peace so that they can go back to their localities.
Sunday Trust gathered that the camps were managed by various stakeholders like NEMA, officials of the Borno State government, doctors without borders, UNICEF among others.
It was observed that the camps have facilities which include rooms for the displaced people, toilets, and clinic among other facilities but in most instances, such conveniences were over stretched.
What preoccupied the mind of most of the displaced people was the restoration of peace so that they can go back to their homes.
Observers believe that even if peace returns, some communities would hardly come to life again, simply because the surviving inhabitants would found it difficult to live with the lingering ghosts of  their loved ones that had been killed and buried beneath ruined houses and farmlands.
It is believed that the protracted insurgency has decimated the over 20 million people in the North-East as thousands have been massacred and hundreds of thousands that were displaced are now living in anguish, disdain and fear.
Those that found themselves in major towns like Maiduguri, Yola and Gombe are now living in Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) camps in various locations; heightening humanitarian crisis in a region described as one of the poorest in the world.
Despite help coming in from various stakeholders, including state governments, federal and humanitarian agencies, many of the victims living in the IDPs camps have different unpleasant stories to tell.
Governor Kashim Shettima once said leaders in the northeast have a long way to go in order to surmount the challenges confronting their people.
“We have serious infrastructure deficit because even the World Bank categorize this part of the world, the North-East region of Nigeria, the Darfur region of the Sudan, the Republic of Chad and northern Cameroon as one of the poorest regions on earth. We have to change our destiny and address the problems confronting us,” the governor said.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) a total of 221,283 IDPs are now living in various camps in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Some of the camps include the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp, Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), Yerwa and the Lake Chad Primary School, Mairi Primary School among others.
Alhaji Usman Jidda Shuwa, the chairman of one of the committees set up by Borno State government to cater for the IDPs  said they have identified more than 60 residential houses within Maiduguri where the IDPs have sought refuge.
He said in each of these houses, there are between 50 and 200 people who are there with their relatives, friends and community leaders.
People from Gwoza, Dikwa, Mafa, Gamboru-Ngala, Damboa have been completely displaced and many from Kukawa, Abadam, Magumeri, Monguno are also affected.
Though still a tall dream, because their dwellings are in ruins, hundreds of IDPs who reportedly fled their homes in Bama, Konduga, Kawuri, Kayamla, Dikwa, Mafa, Limanti, Gowom, Damboa, Dalwa, are now yearning to go back to their homes.
Many others from Gamboru Ngala were also seen at Goni Kachallari Primary School and are craving to go back home.
Beside malaria and other sundry ailments, there was no reported outbreak of cholera since the camps were opened but some of the displaced were having psychological problems.
Within the time under review, 10 babies were delivered at the Biu camp.

Adamawa
Women and children from Boko Haram-controlled areas are arriving Yola in droves without any means of accommodation or feeding. Some of them had swollen legs, haven trekked long distances in the bush.
Initially, there were officially designated IDPs camps in Madagali town, Askira-Uba and Mubi, accommodating IDPs from Gwoza, Damboa and other parts of Borno. With the recent capture of Madagali, Michika and Gulak by Boko Haram fighters, the original IDPs were further displaced alongside residents, many of whom had been hosting refugees in their houses.
 Thousands of people from Gulak, Madagali and Michika trooped to Yola and other states including Gombe, Taraba, Kano and Abuja. The panic created in Mubi after Boko Haram over ran the neighbouring Michika led to exodus to Yola.
Boko Haram has taken three major towns of Madagali, Gulak and Michika in less than three weeks and are believed to be aiming at the  commercial border town of Mubi with residents already leaving en mass.
Currently, there are three surviving camps in Adamawa State with two situated in Mubi town and the other in Girei, few kilometers from Yola, the state capital; but the IDPs living outside camps in Mubi , Yola and other places far outnumber those in the camps.
Officials put the total number of registered IDPs at 13,000 with 10,000 in Mubi and 3000 in Girei (NYSC camp) while registration continues.
“Most of them live with friends and relatives and at unofficial places provided by wealthy individuals. In some cases they just occupy a public place like primary schools. Here in Mubi a business man is hosting 400 people on one of his properties”, a camp official said.
All the three camps have clinics with doctors and health workers, members of the Red Cross and other aide groups working to provide assistance.
Displaced persons interviewed said they were fed three times a day but complained of congestion  and sometimes, lack of  beddings with many of them sleeping  on the floor. However, government and individuals continue to donate relief materials including mattresses and food items.
Security men are drafted to the camps to provide security for the IDPs and ensure maintainace of law and order but in some instances the refugees complain of police brutality.
A pregnant woman, Aisha Ahmadu interviewed by our correspondent at the NYSC Orientation camp in Girei said a policeman attached to the camp manhandled her alongside five other women. A Red Cross official confirmed the incident.
While there was report of deaths  from cholera outbreak at the Kolere IDPs camp in Mubi, there was no such incident at the other camps in Lamorde, Mubi and the NYSC orientation camp in Girei, except for cases of fever and other common ailments.
Although gates of the camps are manned by policemen who screen visitors and search luggage, the inhabitants called for increased security presence, saying only few police men are guarding the camps. Sunday Trust gathered that there are nine security personnel at the NYSC Orientation camp in Girei to watch over 3000 IDP’s.
However, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Haruna Hamman Furo said it was natural for human beings to fall sick especially that the displaced persons went through horrible experiences.
“We have doctors from various organisations including Doctors Without Borders, there is ambulance services and the State Government provides drugs.  We cook five sacks of rice per meal for the victims, so you can see that they are taken care of adequately”, he stated.
He said the police man who manhandled some women has since been withdrawn from the camp following complaints against his behaviour.

Taraba
In Taraba State, the raids by insurgents and internal communal clashes in some parts of the state especially Wukari, had resulted in the establishment of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps across the state.
There are three major internally displaced persons camps located in Jalingo, the state capital, Mutum Biyu in Gassol local government area and in Bali.
Red Cross statistics showed there are about 35,902 internally displaced persons taking refuge across the IDPs camps in the state.
Red Cross Information Head, Umar Waziri said of the numbers, 24,300 are those affected by internal communal clashes in the state while the remaining 11,602 IDPs were those affected by insurgency.
He said the figures could be higher than that because some of the IDPs are  putting up with relatives outside camps and sometimes, it wasn’t all the people that Red Cross was able to capture due to logistics.
Umar said some of the partially destroyed IDPs have returned to their places while the completely destroyed IDPs are still remaining in the camps since they have no where to go.
He said many of the IDPs had overstayed on the camp and that government need to find a means of rehabilitating them, as their continuous stay in the camp is not the best alternative.
“These IDPs are eager to go back to the wider society to live their lives; government should find a way of getting them rehabilitated”, he said.
Umar cited poor health facilities, poor camp environment, inadequate food stuff, lack of mattresses/beddings and inadequate security as some of the challenges facing IDPs in the camps, adding that government need to give attention to that.
Our correspondent who visited some of the camps observed that the IDPs are living in unhygienic environment with little or no health facilities.
In Jalingo, the IDPs were initially being camped at the Muslim Council Secretariat but later moved to Government Comprehensive College, Jalingo.
With the schools about to resume next week, IDPs are now expressing fears as to where they would be camping thereafter.
They expressed dissatisfaction with the experience they have had on the camp so far and appealed to government to find urgent means of rehabilitating them so they can live normal lives like others.
 Chairman of the Jalingo IDPs camp, Saidu Mohammed Abaka told Sunday Trust that life has been miserable for the IDPs since the past three months.
 He said the environment where the IDPs are camping is not conducive enough for humans as many of them (IDPs) sleep in classrooms which have no windows and doors.
Mohammed said only few of the IDPs got mattresses left behind by students of the school while others who couldn’t get mattresses sleep on mats under harsh weather conditions.
Our correspondent observed that about 40 IDPs sleep together in one hall, with the entire camp environment looking unkempt
“It is God that has been keeping us; we killed about four snakes here recently”, one of the IDPs told Sunday Trust.
Mohammed said they had appealed to government severally to fumigate the camp premises with herbicides to kill the overgrown grasses so as to reduce the breeding of mosquitoes but nothing was done to that effect.  
Many of the IDPs are said to be suffering from malaria fever due to mosquito bites as there are not enough mosquito nets for them at the camp.
Although, there is a camp clinic, it is not functional due to lack of drugs.
Sunday Trust learnt that the IDPs have now resorted to herbal medications to treat their ailments since they could not access drugs at the clinic.
Also, there are not enough toilet facilities and bathrooms for IDPs in the camp.
Only six toilets are said to be available in the camp for the over 1,000 IDPs while they take their bathes in an open place as there are no bathrooms.
Feeding has equally  been a serious challenge for the IDPs in the camp as they lamented that government is not forthcoming in bringing food stuff to the camp.
The camp’s store keeper, Hassan Sherif said food stuff at the store have been exhausted and there are no new supplies.
Halima Yakubu, one of the women leaders at the camp who spoke on their experiences at the camp, noted that life has been difficult for children and women.
“We women and children have been facing a lot of challenges. The food we eat at times, we just  manage it. Even as I speak to you, there is no food for us to eat this afternoon. There is congestion in the hostels and some of us sleep on the ground”, she lamented.
Halima said what the IDPs need from government is to rehabilitate them and get them something with which they can start life with, adding that many of them had already lost their means of livelihood to the crisis.
 Another challenge IDPs face across the camps is the problem of poor security.
 
Gombe
Investigation by Sunday Trust has revealed that there are no fewer than five people that were affected with cholera at the temporary IDPs camps in Gombe and they have all been treated at the Gombe Specialist Hospital and discharged.
Speaking to our Correspondent in Gombe, one of the patients Chiroma Bukar said he wake up one morning vomiting and stooling and when he went to the sick bay at the camp he was rushed to the Specialist Hospital Gombe where he was hospitalized and treated for cholera.
Bukar, a commercial driver, who said he and his three wives and 11 children came to Gombe from Biu in Borno state have been  in the camp since the attack on Damboa by the Boko Haram.
Information obtained at the NEMA operations office in Gombe showed there were  about 16,000 internally displaced persons in Gombe. Zainab Umar, the Gombe NEMA operations officer said most of the people coming from Mubi and Michika after registering at the camp  move out to rent houses in town but some do come to the camp for their meals on daily basis.
Goni Usman Bura, one of the IDPs at the camp told Sunday Trust that the camp officials are really taking good care of them.
“They are really trying for us, even the meals have improved significantly. We now have three square meals every day. The sick bay at the camp is stocked with medicines and we have people who are taking care of us. We are grateful to the people, government and even individuals and associations who have contributed in one way or the other and officials at the IDPs camp for the concern toward our plight,” he said.
But some displaced persons  taking refuge in camps in Gombe State have alleged diversion of relief items.

Yobe
In Yobe, Gujba Local Government has remained the worst affected by recent Boko haram onslaught, considering how the insurgents captured the whole area without resistance.
They imposed their laws, killed people and collected taxes in some markets and  have burnt down shops of residenst that migrated from the four major districts of the council. These include: Buni Gari Buni Yadi, Goniri and Gujba.
Our correspondent gathered that since the insurgents started their activities in the area, a lot of money has been extorted from traders and other businessmen in the area, making most of them poor and later fleeing to towns and villages located within a safe distance. Among the receiving areas are Damaturu, Fika, Potiskum, Gombe and some parts of Bauchi state.
Malam Modu (Dan-Alhaji) a major trader in Buni Gari told our correspondent that the insurgents have extorted millions of naira from him and burnt down his shops and other investments.
“They collected my beans capital (N2 million) and warned me not to tell anybody or risk being killed. They returned again and seized N3.5 million before they finally burnt down my two shops at Bumsa road, my store and the entire investments that are worth N15 million,” he said.
When our correspondent went round Damaturu metropolis, groups of IDPs were found occupying abandoned or incomplete buildings in the town, although many of them refused to share their experiences.
“We cannot say anything to you, many people have been coming asking different questions, yet nothing has been done. We still live in difficulty; we are all landlords in our towns but turned tenants in another man’s land,” one of them said.
“We have lost everything, lives of our loved ones, homes, businesses, and all our farm produce,” he added.
He said that their greatest challenge is living in an area they could not source a penny to attain to their needs. “One cannot even get a menial job to find some money for day to day spending, like sickness, and other food items.”
 The Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Musa Idi Jidawa said that the state government took a deliberate action not to operate IDPs camps to avoid attack by the insurgents.
 “But, we traced the (IDPs) locations, house to house and distributed relief materials to them,” he said
He said that the state government through State Emergency Relief Agency had procured food items worth N102 million and distributed them to the IPDs.