Jutha Gupah, Maiduguri
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has dismissed the Tuesday protests of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) over hunger in Teachers Village camp of Maiduguri, Borno state. The protest, according to the Agency, was over the suspension of registration of new IDPs by International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). In a statement of Head of Media and Public Relations of NEMA, Sani Datti released Wednesday in Maiduguri said: “The protest was not triggered by lack of food and starvation in the camp. It was due to the suspension of registration of the displaced persons by ICRC on Tuesday “For record and clarity, though there was protest by some IDPs living in Teachers Village Camp, Maiduguri, it was never caused by hunger or lack of food supplies.” According to him, IDPs’ protect was caused by interrupting the profiling exercise of ICRC. The committee members were at the camp to extend their humanitarian support and complement efforts of other partners. “Consequently, some people outside made attempt to be enumerated and this prompted some IDPs in the camp to chase them away and it resulted in commotion and riot,” he Datti. He said the agency has continued to provide food items monthly to IDPs in camps, host communities and liberated areas in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. He said the situation has already been brought under control by the security operatives stationed at the camp to restore normalcy in Maiduguri. According to him, the agency had conducted the monthly food distribution exercise at the camp on January 15, 2019. He said the food ration was expected to sustain the IDP households for a month. Hundreds of the IDPs on Tuesday blocked the Airport Road, and destroyed bill boards and campaign posters of political parties candidates mounted on the road.
