Inside Abuja camps harbouring 21,000 Boko Haram IDPs

By Favour Nnabugwu
Every day, scores of Nigerians fleeing conflict in the North-East
continue to arrive the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT). At the
last count, the number of displaced persons in Abuja alone is
over 21,000 people.
And because much of attention  is focused on providing
assistance to communities in the North-East, the displaced
families are largely dependent on the National Emergency
Management Agency (NEMA), the FCT Emergency Agency
(FEMA) and random acts of kindness from the local community,
religious bodies, philanthropists and public spirited individuals.
The Director of FEMA, Alhaji Idris Abass, in an interview, said
the challenges of the IDPs were complex, revealing that
thousands of them were spread across 21 camps in the FCT.
Abass said, “We have 21 locations in the FCT now and over
21,000 IDPs spread across the FCT, those are the ones  we
have captured. There are so many other ones and, on daily
basis, they keep coming to the FCT.”
He noted that the agency will not be surprised if there are some
other  IDPs locations in the FCT that have not been captured,
adding that FEMA only captures the ones it knows about.
On the challenges, the Director said the agency was battling with
limited funds  to cater for the IDPs.
“The major challenge is that we don’t have funds. Secondly,
people are not humanitarian enough to make the IDPs feel a
sense of belonging. Otherwise, those people need assistance,
yet we have people who are able to give out little from their own
but find it difficult because Nigerians  do not entirely render
humanitarian service,” Abass said.
He, however, acknowledged that some non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) have been of tremendous assistance with
relief materials and giving information to the agency on IDPs
who have not been captured.
“As far as we are concerned, we are mandated to take care of
the IDP’s and IDP’s are those people who are displaced from
their homes.”
“We collaborate with stakeholders and other agencies on IDPs in
order for each and every agency to  carry out its duties to the
displaced persons”.
Just recently, the agency uncovered 700 new IDPs in Gidadaya,
Oronzo, Abuja.
The FEMA Director told Sunday Vanguard that the agency had
profiled  the new IDPs and also sent relief materials to them.
According to him, the agency learnt that the IDPs occupied an
area in  Oronzo for weeks before they were uncovered.
Among the IDPs were pregnant women and children from the
war-ravaged North East.
He commended the United Nations Commission for Refugees
(UNHRC), religious bodies, agencies and individuals for their
contributions to the welfare of IDPs.
Sunday Vanguard investigations revealed that many of the IDPs
in  and around the  FCT live in shelters made of wood crates
and plastic sheets. The host communities are often too poor to
support them.
Explaining why the IDPs relocated to Abuja, one Philemon
Emmanuel said: “Most of us are farmers, so we are looking for
the place  to plant food items and make money. You know that
in Borno State, especially in Gwoza, we are good in farming.
“We have our brothers living here and they told us that there are
places in Nasarawa State like Kugaru and Kagruma and there is
a mission field in Kwali where we can be allowed to farm”.