Borno IDPs commend UNFPA humanitarian support services

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Maiduguri on have commended the UNFPA for providing humanitarian and psychosocial support services in Borno.

Representatives of the IDPs made the commendation during an assessment tour of one of the camps at WTC, Maiduguri, by a team from the UNFPA headquarters in Abuja.

Malama Yakura Abba, a 42-year-old widow from Bama, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) at the camp that she lost her husband and six out of her 12 children to the insurgents before she escaped to the camp.

Abba said she had been receiving humanitarian and psychosocial support services from the UNFPA since she settled in the camp.

She acknowledged that the fund is providing dignity kits and psychosocial counselling services as well as skills acquisition training to them at the “safe space’’ established by the UNFPA.

Similarly, Mrs Yafantu Grema, a 38-year-old IDP from Banki, confirmed receipt of the humanitarian and psychosocial support services from the fund at the camp.

Grema said that she was delivered of eight children at home and delivered the ninth baby comfortably at the camp as she embraced antenatal service.

But she regretted that her husband divorced her shortly after the last delivery for inexplicable reasons.

On her part, Mrs Hajja Kaltume, another 43-year-old IDP from Bama, said she was spending her 27th week and got her 12th pregnancy in the camp.

Kaltume explained that she had embraced child spacing policy and was ready for permanent family planning.

However, the IDPs asked for more and sustainable support in skills acquisition, economic empowerment and education for their children.

The Manager of the camp, Malam Mohammed Kukawa, had earlier told the team that the camp has 6,113 IDPs, including 2,156 unaccompanied women and 1,158 male.

Others are 2,198 female; 280 lactating mothers; 49 pregnant women; 199 aged IDPs; 30 separated family members and 65 mentally affected IDPs.

Hajiya Bintu Marte, the Camp Coordinator, and Mrs Charity Gadzama, the Nursing Officer in charge of the camp who corroborated the stories, added that the camp had recorded 11 safe deliveries in the last three weeks.

Responding to the requests made by the beneficiaries at the camp, the Leader of the UNFPA Team, Mr Mohammed Ismail, pledged to strengthen the humanitarian and psychosocial support services.

Ismail also promised them that the fund would forward their needs on education to the relevant organisations to address them.

NAN also reports that there are no less than 23 designated camps in Maiduguri, with about 1.5 million IDPs in the formal and informal camps in the state.