"We can't cater for all affected victims," Victims Support Fund

Ex-President

The statement which contradicts that of Jonathan during the inauguration was made known to the Premium Times by the Executive Director of the Fund, Solomon Ochoche.

While inaugurating the committee in 2015, Jonathan had said: “Our gathering here today is to kick-start the process of providing succour to our people who have been directly affected one way or the other by acts of terrorism in the country.”

However, Ochoche says otherwise saying it's an impossibility for the committee to cater for all the people affected by the terror created by the bomb blasts.

He said N227 million was shared among 14 hospitals across North-East Nigeria for the care of civilians affected by bomb explosions and another N35 million was given to two military hospitals for the same purpose.

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“It is not possible for the VSF to cater for all the people affected by these terror,” Ochoche reportedly said.

Ochoche stressed that the VSF had identified and provided funds for 14 hospitals to treat the victims but the agency won't be responsible for referrals by the highlighted hospitals.

Continuing, he said: "If they go to hospitals that we have asked them to go to and they are referred to other hospitals, I am sorry but we cannot take responsibility for that. It is the hospitals that will know how to sort themselves out.”

At the inauguration of the agency through a committee led by Theophilus Danjuma, a total of N54billion was pledged at a fund raising but only N28billion is said to have been redeemed.

“N28 billion has been redeemed out of N54 billion which was pledged,” Ochoche revealed.

“At the beginning; the Victims Support Fund identified three areas of intervention; women economic empowerment, educational support for children and psycho-social support.

“Those were the areas identified and the needs in these areas are very broad. When we later identified the enormity of the needs of bomb blast victims; VSF decided to step in to help support the health challenges of the victims," he said.

Explaining how funds have been disbursed, Ochoche said N3.8 billion has been spent on projects for the welfare of various victims since 2015.