Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has decried the rising number of Internally Displaced Persons and the high influx of refugees from Cameroon in Benue, saying the state is now endangered.
He said it was not an easy task for the state to manage the refugees and IDPs, and urged the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to intervene to cushion the burden.
Governor Ortom stated this in a statement made available to Adadainfo on Wednesday in Makurdi by Ortom’s chief press secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur.
received an Inter-Agency Technical Committee delegation from the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in Makurdi.
He said, “We remain an endangered state as far as issues of refugees and IDPs are concerned in our country Nigeria”, stressing that since 2017, “the state has continued to witness influx of IDPs in various official and unofficial established camps.”
According to the governor, “On record, we have over two million IDPs in Benue State that have been profiled. The state currently hosts over 10,000 Cameroonian refugees who are taking refuge in Benue as a result of the crises in southern Cameroon.
“We have taken it as a responsibility of the government to provide minimum comfort for the Cameroonian refugees.”
He said the state government had continued to prevail on the host communities to allow the refugees to settle down.
Ortom said over 134,000 persons had been displaced from their homes as a result of the recent flooding that caused havoc in some parts of the state, saying due to early sensitization, there were less casualties.
Ortom urged the committee to carry out their assessment of the humanitarian situation on ground with diligence, calling on the committee to ‘adequately report to the ministry the situation on ground, so that help could be provided to the state’.
He mandated the executive secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Dr Emmanuel Shior, to furnish the Interagency Committee with detailed information on the prevailing challenges.
The leader of the ministerial team, Mr Murdakai Titus, appreciated the governor for the cooperation he has accorded the team.
He said, “The Federal Government of Nigeria is mindful of challenges and tensions always associated with hosting asylum seekers and refugees globally, especially in the immediate host communities and Nigeria’s experience is not different particularly in Benue State.
