Over 85 percent of women and children in Benue now live in IDP camps – UNHCR

By Henry Ibya, Makurdi

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, has disclosed that over 85 percent of women and children in Benue State are living in internally displaced persons, IDPs, camp as well as in communities, expressing worry over the worsening situation resulting in spike humanitarian needs and forced displacement in the state since 2018.

Speaking at a three-day capacity building workshop on the theme Turning the Tide: A Development Approach to Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, put together by UNHCR and UNDP in collaboration with the Benue State Taskforce Committee on Durable Solutions held Wednesday in Makurdi, associate protection officer, head of UNHCR in Benue State, Irene Babu expressed shock that the number of local government areas hit by insurgency has reached 21 out of the 23 LGAs in the state.

Babu lamented that Benue known as the ‘Food Basket of the Nation’, which pride itself with rich soil, the River Benue and abundant rainfall that make agriculture the mainstay of the economy; the displaced persons could not access their farms or earn a living for over 14 years, fearing for their lives.

She said malnourished children are seen in IDP camps, a situation she argued has denied them of their basic rights to grow in conducive environment as well as exposed them to harsh weather in IDP camps while pregnant malnourished women who could not think of fate of their delivery in hospitals are languishing in the camps, lamenting that about 85 percent of women and children are still in camps and other communities.

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The UNHCR boss in the state further revealed that the state and its people situated on a land mass of 34,059km are now confined in makeshift and congested shelters while their beautiful houses of their ancestral forefathers are now occupied by insurgents, taking advantage of the Savannah grasslands.

She recalled that while seasonal flooding has historically been the main driver of population displacement in the state, Benue has in the last two decades become the major flashpoint for farmer-herder clashes; a situation that has claimed thousands of lives.

Babu particularly commended Governor Hyacinth Alia for his hospitality to about 12,000 foreign refugees in Ikyogen Refugees Settlement and the host communities with IDPs but noted with displeasure that there is a bleak possibility for IDPs in returning to their ancestral homes due to continuous insecurity in those areas of origin.

She added that attempts in the past by IDPs to return have been fatal due to repeated attacks, while in some cases returnees have been subjected to severe human rights abuses such as killings, gender based violence like rape and other forms of harm including torture, leading to secondary displacements, resulting to increased orphanage.

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