IDPs lament poor facilities in camps [Photos]

Aisha Lawal is a 12-year-old orphan. She lost both parents to Boko Haram attacks at Bama local government area of Borno state in February, 2014.

Narrating her experience to Pulse.ng, Aisha said the insurgents who came in their numbers, ambushed the village, killed all adults and escaped with some girls.

She said: "They killed my mother, father, my big neighbours (adults) and carried some big girls away." Aisha is an aspiring Medical Doctor.

Aisha's story is one of many at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp located in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

At the Gwoza/Bama IDP camp located in Durum, Area 1, the Chairman, Ibrahim Ahmudu said there are 2226 persons (comprising men, women, youths, orphans and babies) in the facility.

With no power supply, the only source of water at the is a borehole. There is a clinic in the camp which lacks essential drugs like paracetamol syrup for children. There is also no registered nurse in the camp.

"As you can see, we have five classrooms, four permanent teachers, two volunteers and three NYSC corps members who teach these children," Ahmudusaid.

READ: NSCDC: Agency arrests 30 yr old IDP for allegedly killing her newborn baby

A corps member who identified himself as Anthony Otah lamented the limited number of teachers per class.

He said: "I take them through all the subjects and sometimes, I have to take other classes too. Another problem is the language barrier. It is so difficult to communicate with children because most of them do not understand English."

The Camp Secretary, Umar Ali told our correspondent that they are yet to receive relief items from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

He said: "We depend solely on items donated to us by Non Governmental Organisation (NGOs) and good spirited Nigerians. We even sell these items to pay the teachers because the government is not helping us. We have not gotten anything from NEMA since we started this camp in December, 2014."

In a awift reaction, the NEMA Abuja Operations Coordinator, Isa Ishaya Chonoko said the agency had taken relief materials to almost all camps in the FCT.

"I am sure we have taken relief materials to almost all the locations where we we have IDPs in the FCT, particularly that Area 1 that you are talking about. If you can come to my office, you will see proof of my claims," he said.

At the New Kuchingoro IDP Camp which is home to displaced persons from Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states, the camp chairman, Emmanuel Philimon noted that some IDPs have relocated to their villages.

''Some people have started going back but some are afraid since we still hear on radio that Boko Haram are there. If they stop attacking, we will go back,"Josiah Madaki, an indigene of Madagali local government area of Borno state told our correspondent.

The Boko Haram sect was founded in 2002 by the late Mohammed Yusuf who was captured and executed by the Nigerian security forces in 2009. Their attacks in the northeast and other parts of the country have left most Nigerians running to other neighbouring countries of Chad, Cameroon and Chad.