BokoHaram: Over 4,000 refugees are in NYSC orientation camp in Adamawa

By James Sambo

Mallam Haruna Amman Kure, Executive Secretary, Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency has revealed to TAP(Testimonial Archive Project), that as at 27th of September, Adamawa, Yola, had 4,478 internally persons, displaced by the terror reign of the Boko Haram.

According to Kure, the ‘Internally displaced persons(IDP) were transported into the camp in conjunction of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). He said the camp started with 34 IDPs, making use of a primary school within the state capital.

Subsequently, when the number of the IDP’s surged, the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency liaised with the directorate of the National Youth Service Corps in Adamawa, to make use of the orientation camp of the Corp in the state. After securing the premises, the IDP’s were moved to the NYSC orientation camp on 24 August 2014.

Kure disclosed that as at last count, the camp had 4,478 IDPs, 2,609 of which are males, while 1,305 are females. There are also 559 children, and 52 pregnant women in the camp.

Kure said, “We have 6 successful deliveries [of babies]. We have never had any loss of life, and we have our brothers and sisters in the humanitarian services ranging from Refugee Commission, International Rescue Commission – name them. Apart from other security outfits, they are all here to work round the clock. NEMA setup this camp itself, and they supervise and make sure they are on the right footing.”

Meanwhile, the children’s education are still ongoing despite being in the refuge camp, with 6 classrooms having been set up and skill acquisition to commence imminently.

“These children’s education has been disrupted and we don’t want it to continue much longer. We now have up to 6 classes and very soon we are going into waste-to-wealth education so that by the time they leave they must have gotten one trade or the other due. I want to believe that by next week after this Sallah, we will set off fully in that aspect. And there are other social activities we do there. We have football pitches, and we play matches between the humanitarian workers there and the IPD teams,” he added.

The state Executive Secretary of NEMA also revealed that managing the ‘Internally displace persons’ can be challenging, as some of them suffer from psychological trauma, because of the experiences they have had with the Boko Haram insurgents.

He concluded, “IDPs can be aggressive, and they get dejected. You cannot rule that out because the situation the IDP left. Some of them maid have terrible memories, like the women that are the widows, you find them, you have to go close to them, you have to counsel them. We call most of them by name because we want them to feel at home, and honestly that aspect is working well. The psychiatric doctors who come in with the NMA are treating patients there because they are discovering a lot of them that need counselling.”

Culled from ynaija.com