Yobe:116,000 IDP’s get N500m lifeline

In continuation of humanitarian assistance to victims of insurgency in the North east, President Goodluck Jonathan has approved the distribution of relief items worth 500, 000 million naira to about 116, 000 internally displaced persons in Yobe State through the Presidential Committee on Relief Procurement and Distribution. Flagging off the relief distribution in Damaturu, Director General National Emergency Management Agency Muhammad Sani-Sidi, who is the chairman of the committee said the items were procured based on identified basic needs of the people and that proper arrangements have been made to ensure direct distribution to the target beneficiaries. He said the items would be distributed by NEMA staff in collaboration officials of the Yobe State Government and Red Cross throughout the state. The Director-General of NEMA, who was represented by the Agency’s Director of Disaster Risk Reduction Alhaji Alhassan Nuhu said the items have been strategically stockpiled in Damaturu for the beneficiaries in the west and central parts of the state while another large consignment was in Gashua for easy distribution to the IDPs in the northern areas. He said about 15, 000 of the displaced persons were in Damaturu while the others were in various locations across the state. The flagging-off of the Presidential relief distribution in Yobe State followed similar functions that were carried out in Adamawa and Borno States. This would be followed by the direct distribution of the items. President Goodluck had approved the sum of one billion five hundred million naira for the special committee under the chairmanship of the Director General of NEMA to procure the relief items and distribute directly to the affected persons in the three states. This is in addition to the various humanitarian interventions being carriedout by NEMA from the onset of the crises to date.