Yelewata attack: Benue Govt Disburses N56m to IDPs from N1.275bn donations by First Lady, others

From Uche Nnorom, Makurdi

The Benue State government has disclosed that she disbursed 56 million naira to 1000 individual households in the state from over 1.275 billion donations made to Yelewata community with each person getting 50, 000 naira as cash

Recall that Yelewata, in Guma local government area, a border town between Benue and Nasarawa state came under heavy attack by suspected armed herdsmen in June 2025 resulting in the death of over 200 persons and thousands displaced.

The displaced persons have been camped at the International Market in Makurdi.

While briefing newsmen on Monday in Makurdi, chairman Technical committee for the implementation of donations to IDP in Benue State Barr Deborah Aber said the attack had attracted the attention of the President who visited the State and promised that adequate security apparatus would be deployed to the state and the perpetrators would be apprehended and brought to justice.

Barrr Aber who is also the Secretary to the State Government, SSG said after his visit, the first lady Mrs Oluremi Tinubu came with a huge donation in the sum of 1 billion naira to ease the IDP crisis in the State.

She added that following her visit, the state had other donations from Nasarawa state government that gave the sum of 150 million naira, the United bank for Africa, UBA donated 100 million naira and the Director General, DSS sent in a donation of 25 million naira and that totalled 1,275,000,000 received into the State.

Aber explained that the Governor set up a committee to look into the judicious implementation of these donations that the state had received and saddled her with the responsibility to chair the committee.

She said, “we began sitting on the 19th August, 2025. Our mandate was clear to identify the needs of the displaced persons and the communities that host them. We started by engaging all representatives of the IDPs, brought them to the State capital, Makurdi and asked them to give us their own priority needs that they had. This was done so that it does not seem that the state was going in to solve a perceived problem but to specifically meet the need the people had.

“That was done and they came back a second time and we went to work aggregating all of the needs and they were spread across food, health, shelter, education for their children, livelihood, water. We took a stand to say that these donations came as a result of the incident in Yelewata but it will be spread to other IDPs in tge state though we prioritized Yelewata. This committee has painstakingly gone through the whole steps in the things that it has set out to achieve. We did a mapping of beneficiaries, gathered data to meet the specific people this fund was meant for. We carried the host community along in whatever we did and prioritized too. In some places, the people were not in displaced camps but living wih the host community and all that was taken into cognisance.

“We also, realized that these needs had to be scaled into medium and long term. All of that was done and wotk started immediately. The food and nutrition component was handled by SEMA and the flag off of distribution was done last year December to all the locations. We also, had the cash transfer. This was to assist the persons with their livelihood in addition to aid and support by other donor agencies had given them, it was meant to cushion the challenge they were facing. The cash transfer has recorded 90 percent success, the 10 percent outstanding is because some beneficiaries have problem either with their National Identification Number, NIN and so, their account opening process had not been completed and so they haven’t been handed their cash. This was done through the state Novus Bank and the sum of 50,000 was transfered to individual household.

“The thematic area of shelter got non food items, there were mattresses that were bought, clothes and mats were distributed by SEMA. In the health thematic area, the Ministry of Health established a clinic at the International Market where the displaced persons are camped. The health component has distributed medical supplies including drugs and 5883 IDPs have been enrolled in Benue State Health Insurance Agency, BSHIA with a premium of 10,000 paid per person to enable them access medical care.

“The WASH component had a huge challenge. This is a huge challenge of water in several of these areas. The Ministry of Water Resources has dug 3 functional boreholes in Yelewata. They built stations to reticulate the water to other locations. Water have been reticulated 2km to where resettlement homes are been built. The state in conjunction with the European Union Fund through ECO implemented by the International Organization for Migration, IOM built a water treatment plant at Naka, Gwer West local government area which was commissioned 2 weeks ago ending a 40 year clean water drought in the town.

“We also had the security component where we had engagement with International partners, CSOs who were part of the technical team that was working on all of these. We IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF, DSS, Police and all the MDAs. Funds earmarked for Education has been able to build 4 classrooms in Yelwata, textbooks, school bags have been procured. We are building makeshift schools at the International Market for the children to study.

“In the agriculture thematic area, the committee engaged some people who taught the IDPs new methods of farming, seedlings and pecticides are given to these people. A very vital aspect was the peace and reconciliation which is headed by the State Peace Commission. They went round and established peace committees in each LGA. We are grateful to our partners as we speak UNHCR is building a world class clinic in Yelewata. Working with our international partners, we came up with a model for resettlement that is acceptable worldwide. It seeks to settle people close to their locations in decent forms and houses close to farmstead so they can continue with their livelihood. We have land earmarked for this purpose”.

Continuing the State scribe sais her committee had an engagement to construct 60 homes for the displaced population in Yelewata, maintaining that. 60 homes cannot accommodate the IDPs but that is what the funds could do.

“There are 38 of those homes of 2 bedrooms at roofing stage, 3 out of the 38 roofed already altogether they are 43 only 5 have not reacbed roofing stage. The state with this model will start relocating its citizens to a more dignifying houses closer to their ancestral homes so that their lives can bear a semblance of normalcy

She gave breakdown of the disbursement as Cash Transfer – ₦56, 325, 000, Food and Nutrition ₦224,500,000, Shelter ₦28, 900, 000

Water Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH₦125, 325, 000, Security ₦56, 125, 000, Agriculture ₦56,125, 000, Resettlement ₦277, 350, 000, Health ₦112,250, 000, Peace and Reconciliation ₦16, 000, 000, Sustainability Fund ₦24, 800,000, Livelihoods ₦21, 625, 000, Host Communities ₦127, 500, 000 and Education ₦148, 175, 000 totaling 1,275, 000, 000 billion naira.