Governor Hyacinth Alia says his administration inherited 2,124,000 Internally Displaced Persons.
The governor disclosed this when he received the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale adding that he inherited a dysfunctional civil service, youth unemployment, hunger and child malnutrition.
Alia said, “Our administration on assumption of office encountered an enormous humanitarian crisis occasioned by various forms of conflicts and natural disasters, which has left us with internally displaced persons.
“This covers 37,412 households with a total population of 2,124,000.
“Out of this number, 241,342 persons are in 13 IDP camps while the balance of 1,882,658 live within their host communities.
“A dysfunctional civil service with months of unpaid salaries, youth unemployment, hunger and child-malnutrition.
The governor lamented that the state had continued to experience intense conflicts and tensions as a consequence of herder/farmers clashes as well as intercommunal skirmishes which, he said, have continued to disrupt the agrarian lives of the people of the state.
“Out of this number, 241,342 persons are in 13 IDP camps while the balance of 1,882,658 live within their host communities.
“A dysfunctional civil service with months of unpaid salaries, youth unemployment, hunger and child-malnutrition.
According to Governor Alia, the state is witnessing intense conflicts and tensions from the herder/farmers clashes as well as intercommunal skirmishes which, he said, have continued to disrupt the agrarian lives of the people of the state.
Alia his other challenges to include dilapidated educational and health facilities and open defecation insecurity and appealed to the United Nations for support
Schmale said the IDPs’ plight in Benue was worse than those in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria., adding that his team had visited some camps in the state, and that they came to find out the priorities of the government and possible interventions as well as know how best they could be implemented.
He promised that the UN as the chief advocate for peace would try to bring all warring parties together and find a lasting solution to the insecurity.
