Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the Kuchigoro Camp, Abuja have urged the Federal Government to implement a rehabilitation scheme for them like it did for repentant Boko Haram members and Niger Delta militants.
This was disclosed by Mr Luka Yathuma, the Secretary of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the Kuchigoro Camp, Abuja, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.
Yathuma said that such a scheme would go a long way to boost their living standards as they attempt to recover from the destruction of their livelihood by terrorist groups.
What the Secretary of IDPs said
Speaking on the matter, Yathuma stated that it is only normal for the government to consider the IDPs for rehabilitation especially since the government is making efforts to rehabilitate the people and groups who put them in the unfortunate position in the first place.
He said, “We are law-abiding citizens of the country who don’t want to cause any harm on anyone. And the people that put us in this condition are being rehabilitated, trained in skill acquisition and after that they are empowered.
“Those of them that want to go to school are being given scholarships to go to school, but what about their victims that are dropping out of school because of the condition they found themselves in?
“We are begging the federal government to also rehabilitate IDPs, provide them with skill acquisition opportunities and scholarships to make their lives better like the ex-Boko Haram members and Niger Delta militants.
“The reason we are in the camp is because we did not want to join the bad group, but when we see the bad group that made us come here being taken care of, it breaks us down emotionally and psychologically.
“There is nothing wrong in rehabilitating ex-Boko Haram members, but what about the victims?
He said that most IDPs live in miserable conditions and are exposed to serious poverty. He added that the youths in IDP camps may become tools in the hands of bad politicians and criminal gangs if they are neglected by the government.
“If the country is not secure, the rich and their wealth will also not be secure,” he said, as life had not been easy for the over 1,724 IDPs in the Kuchigoro Camp.
“Our condition is terrible, some rich people will not keep their dogs or chickens in the tent we are sleeping, but it has become our comfort zones, because we have no option,” he added.
What you should know
Nigeria started rehabilitating Boko Haram members in 2018 when the FG initially released 244 “repentant“ ex Boko Haram fighters.
