The Senate Committee on Special Duties, has on Sunday, revealed that the President Muhammadu Buhari Federal Government spends N5 billion monthly, to cater for the victims of insurgency in the North-East region of the country,
The Chairman of the Committee, Senator Yusuf Yusuf, disclosed this in an interview with Journalists in Abuja, on the outcome of his Panel members’ recent visit to the North-East geopolitical zone.
Yusuf explained that no amount of resources is adequate to sustain the 2.7 million displaced persons in the various camps around the country.
He lamented that most of the victims of insurgency are eager to return home and fend for themselves, but many of their villages are still inaccessible.
He noted with concern, that Nigeria may witness a major crisis from the IDPs who are mostly orphans below the age of 18, if nothing is done to get them back to their villages
His words: “It is a very sad thing that I have seen in the IDP camps. There are 2.7 million people in the IDP camps across the North-Eastern States.
“No amount of resources that can sustain or take care of their palliatives.
“The government and the development partners are doing their best, but the resources are very small.
“We cannot sustain spending the N5 billion a month to take care of these people.
“We cannot continue to believe that the IDP syndrome should continue. We must exit it at one time or the other. It is a sad thing.
“There are children who are orphans in all respect and most of them are below the age of 18. It is a time bomb waiting to explode.
“All of us, what we should do is to work together, accept the fact that security is important, the Security Agents should be given enough courage, because the government is doing its own best, but the Security Agencies, though they are trying, their best is not enough.
“The people in the IDP camps want to go back to their homes, and there is no reason why they should not go back.
“All hands must be on deck, and make sure that security is provided for them to go back to their homes, so that we can reduce the mounting pressure on our resources to take care of the IDPs.”
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