By Henry Ibya, Makurdi
The United States team from Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, BHA, in Benue State on a 3- day working visit to assess the humanitarian crisis in the state, Wednesday, rounded up its assignment.
Interacting with IDPs at the six different camps with their last visit to Gbajimba2, Ortese, and Daudu2 all in Guma Local Government Area of the state, senior humanitarian adviser of BHA Patrick Robin said the Agency which offers disaster assistance to millions of people across the globe suffering crisis assured that those affected by the crisis in Benue State would not be an exception and promised to project the humanitarian situation in the state to the world for possible response and attention.
Robin further announced that BHA has taken stock during the visit and is aware of the humanitarian challenges the state is facing assuring that the team would write a report when they were back to the head of services for onward intervention.
Some IDPs including Philip Uhoo, Terkaa Iortsee and Veronica Gar who said they had spent not less than four to eight years in the camps acknowledged contribution of the state governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia administration in the area of food supply, but lamented lack of accommodation, matrasses, quality water and good toilets.
They said, apart from their children not going to school properly, as grown up adults, their economic lives have been truncated since they could no longer go to their farms, pointing out that most of them in the camps are either living on borrowing or begging which according to them is alien to the Tiv culture.
They appealed to the international organisation and government to support them with loans to enable them start small businesses to improve their income as well as provide enough security for them to go back to their ancestral homes to continue with their normal lives.
In his remarks executive secretary Benue State Emergency Management Agency, BSEMA James Iorpuu expressed confidence that the visit by the BHA would strengthen partnership with the international body and the state in its commitment towards alleviating the sufferings of the Internally Displaced Person’s, IDPs.
He called on the BHA to establish a field office in the state to enable it have smooth operation to humanitarian crisis in the state and other neighbouring states.