Inadequate potable water, medical facilities in IDP camps shock Senate committee

The Senate Committee on Special Duties on Thursday expressed shock at the perennial water shortage in some Internally Displaced Persons camps in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Alhaji Kabiru Gaya, a member of committee, told newsmen shortly after the inspection visit in Maiduguri, that the senators were also surprised at the lack of proper medical facilities at the IDP camps.
Gaya said: “We have seen some water shortages in the camps and we know that we have made provision in the budget for lots of money to cater for the provision of water and health care facilities.
“So we need to see more presence of the Ministry of Water Resources and Health in these camps.”
Gaya, however, commended the National Emergency Management Agency for living up to expectations.
He said: “NEMA is doing well; we appreciate what it is doing.
“I think there is the need for the ministries, where we noticed shortcomings, to be on the ground.”
He also advised the Borno Government to explore the possibilities of involving IDPs in its planned massive reconstruction of liberated communities.
Gaya also said: “From our interaction with the people, they want to be accommodated in the process of reconstructing their homes, either as labourers or even on their own.
“What some of them want is for government to allocate building materials for them to embark on the reconstruction on their own.
“Simply put, the people want to be empowered in the process.”
Speaking Earlier, Senator Abdulaziz Nyako, the Chairman of the committee, said that the visit was aimed at getting first hand information on the living condition of the IDPs.
Nyako said: “We came here just to see things for ourselves, we met the state governor and we also went round some IDP camps.
“Our visit basically is to see how we can help improve their living conditions in the camps.
“The IDP camps are massive, some with up to 21,000 people; these camps are just like some villages.
“We are trying to see how we can solve some urgent needs in the camps to make the IDPs happy.”
Nyako said that the committee was also concerned about the return of the IDPs to their homes at the end of the Boko Haram crisis.
He noted: “We are trying to see how IDPs can return home; how we can rehabilitate them so that they can return to their normal life.”