An Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp harbouring victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the North-eastern part of the country has been discovered in Edo State. The camp, located in a remote community of Edo South senatorial district, was said to have about 900 children between the ages of four months and 20 years.
It was learnt that the camp, which originally serves as a centre for the needy and was founded by the International Christian Centre for Mission, had provided food and shelter for the IDPs since 2013.
The camp covers a large expanse of land and has several blocks of rooms and halls, most of which were made of wood, serving as classrooms and bedrooms for the displaced persons.
It was further learnt that the refugees also included men, women and children whose families were killed and homes burnt by the insurgents. The camp, it was also learnt, depends on a generator to provide its own electricity and water.
When newsmen visited the camp most of the children were seen receiving lessons from the makeshift classrooms, while some of them who had been infected with chicken pox were quarantined according to gender.
Some of the victims who recounted their ordeal said they lost all they had to the insurgents who also attacked them in caves where they had initially sought refuge. One of them, Tani Philemon, stated that she had been abducted by the insurgents from her home, in Gwoza Local Government Area of Bornu State, but escaped miraculously after several days of fasting.
Another victim, Grace James, 17, said she and her family were fed raw maize while on the run, after they were attacked and their home destroyed by the insurgents.
The Overseer of the ICC, Solomon Folorunsho, disclosed to journalists, during a visit to the camp, that the IDPs were brought to the facility from Bornu and Adamawa States, through Jos, the Plateau State capital. Folorunsho said the displaced persons depended on donations from faith-based organisations, institutions and individuals.
Source: Thisdaylive
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