Indications have emerged of a looming outbreak of epidemics in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp housing over 2,000 displaced Agatu farmers in Benue State as the IDPs now defecate in the open due to lack of adequate toilet facilities.
The camp at the NOGOA Secondary School, Makurdi, houses over 800 women and girls, close to 850 children and about 200 men and boys.
Predictably, the two toilet facilities that served the students population of the school were the only two available for use by the IDPs.
The development forced majority of them to resort to open defecation in nearby bushes, drainage channel and open trenches thereby exposing themselves and their neigbours to potential public health hazards.
Speaking about some of the challenges facing the Agatu IDPs, the camp coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Onah, said they were faced by lack of medicare, food supply, water and security.
According to him, “Aside open defecation which is practised in the camp due to lack of toilet facilities, a major challenge we have in the camp is the fact that criminals infiltrate the camp in order to access most of the relief materials that are meant for the genuine IDPs. We also have the problem of the inmates particularly children falling sick and not being able to access medicare, that remains a major source of concern for everyone, since the camp opened a month ago.”
Onah, who asserted that the three other Agatu IDPs camps located in Ojantele, Ataganyi and Ugbokpo were also facing the same challenges, pointed out that the Benue State Emergency Management Agency was doing its best for the people, but noted that the agency required assistance from individuals and organizations to meet the needs of the IDPs.
He said the Executive Secretary of SEMA, Mr. Boniface Otese has promised to liaise with the office of the Adviser to the Governor on Security to provide security for the inmates.
When contacted, the Executive Secretary said his organization was doing its best but could certainly not meet the demands of all the IDPs.
-Vanguard