“Mad” IDP accuses NEMA: “They feed us only rice, divert our money to buy cows, we want to go home”
Officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) “trying to look good” in the eyes of Nigerian senators were embarrassed, Wednesday.
NEMA, among other things, is responsible for catering for internally displaced persons (IDP) in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s deputy senate president, Ike Ekweremadu, visited an IDP camp in Yola on Wednesday.
The IDP camp is originally the National Youth Service Corpsamp in Damare, near Yola, the capital city.
NEMA coordinator, Sa ‘ad Bello, was telling Ekweremadu how the IDPs were being catered for appropriately when one of the displaced persons reportedly interrupted him.
“It is a lie!” A woman shouted.
“We are not well taken care of. We only eat twice daily and it is always rice”.
“They sell the material brought to us. They also buy cows with money meant for our upkeep, please we want to go home,” she was reported to have said.
The NEMA coordinator was reported to have described the IDP as a mad woman. It is not clear whether he said the words or used mere gestures to describe the mental state of the woman.
There are over three million IDPs in Nigeria, most of them displaced by Boko Haram’s terrorism.
“Mad” IDPs are not the only ones accusing NEMA of not taking good care of Nigerian IDPs.
Weeks back, a volunteer worker at an IDP camp in the northeast leaked photos of the inhumane ways IDPs are served their meals.
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