- Bandits going round Zamfara farms to prevent planting, 113 towns deserted
- One million displaced in Benue, eight LGs face humanitarian crisis in camps
Rising insecurity is taking its toll on communities across the country as no fewer than 12 States are battling with problems of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as a results of bandits or terrorists violent activities.
Findings by the Lagos-based THE PUNCH newspapers shows that the most affected states were Benue, Borno, Kebbi, Plateau, Gombe, Sokoto, Katsina, Niger, Yobe and Adamawa.
It was gathered that although Ebonyi State had its own share of IDPs, but they are victims of communal clashes and attack by security forces.
And in Cross River State, the IDPs are refugees from Cameroon.
In many of the States, particularly in the North, a lot of rural communities and farms had been abandoned following incessant attacks by bandits.
These came to the fore as gunmen killed 25 people in separate attacks in Plateau and Benue states on Sunday night.
For Benue, eight Local Government Areas of Benue State are grappling with problems associated with displaced persons.
According to the State government, one million people are currently displaced in the state as a result of attacks by herdsmen.
It was learnt LGAs battling with humanitarian crisis following herders’ invasions included Guma, Makurdi, Logo, Agatu, Ado and Gwer West. The IDP crisis in some parts of Katsina Ala is associated with both attacks by herdsmen and local bandits.
Findings indicated that the displaced people in the Kondhisha Local Government Area were the victims of the military attack following the murder of 12 soldiers by the Bonta militias in April.
In the Ado LGA, the displaced people are victims of herdsmen invasions and those of Ebonyi and Benue border clashes.
The Chairman of the LGA, James Oche, said attacks by herdsmen and the persistent communal clashes between the Effium community in Benue and Ezza people of Ebonyi had caused significant humanitarian crisis for the local government area.
Investigations showed that residents of communities in 11 LGAs of Katsina State had been displaced as a result of attacks by herdsmen.
The local government areas are Batsari,Jibia Sabuwa,Danmusa, Safana, Matazu, Kankara, Dandume, Dutsin-ma, Kurfi and Malumfashi.
Although the state government has shut the IDP camps in the state, it is currently carrying out an enumeration of orphans and widows who are victims of bandits’ attacks.
The Head of the Matazu Local Government Administration Alhaji Yahaya Sani, said the exercise was to know the exact number of the affected victims, whose family members had been killed as a result of bandits’ attacks in some of the 34 local governments areas of the state .
A large-scale farmer in the Batsari Local Government Area, Mallam Abba Abubakar, said he feared going to farm because of activities of bandits.
He stated, “The bandits would attack you on the farms and rustle the cows you are using to farm. They will also kidnap all the farm hands you are using and ask you to pay a ransom, if you are lucky that you are not kidnapped or killed too.”
It was learnt in Borno State, communities in 20 out of 27 LGAs in the State had been displaced following incessant attacks by the Boko Haram insurgents.
Local government areas where people have been displaced and activities paralysed include Guzamala, Abadam, Marte, Kukawa, Bama, Damboa, Gamboru Ngala, Kala balge, Dikwa, Bama, Mobbar, Konduga, Kaga, Gubio, Magumeri and Nganzai.
Many communities in the southern part of the State, including Chibok and Gwoza local government areas, have also been dislodged by the insurgents.
Also, it was learnt that in the Guzamala Local Government Area, where the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Abdulkarim Lawan hails from, all residents had fled.
In Gombe State, the recent communal clashes in the Shongom Local Government Area had produced about 500 to 1,000 persons displaced persons.
Gombe State Commissioner for Information Julius Ishaya, while lamenting the huge financial implications in settling persons that were displaced, said: “The unfortunate thing is that you don’t prepare for them (the clashes). When they happen, you have to mobilise resources to make sure you handle emergency issues like the relief materials.”
Survivors of bandits’ attacks from the Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area and part of Zuru Emirate in Kebbi State are currently staying in an IDP camp in Dabai, Zuru.
Narrating his ordeal, Nuhu Bitrus, from Munhaye village in Wasagu Chiefdom, said, “We have been staying in the camp since bandits invaded our village on January 23 and kidnapped 20 women. Now we cannot go near the village. No one is talking about us.”
In Sokoto, IDP camps are located in Gandi in the Rabah Local Government, while those displaced by bandits in Isa and Sabon Birni local government areas are taking refuge in the neighbouring Niger Republic.
In Zamfara State, statistics shows that 113 communities had been deserted by residents.
In the Anka LGA, 52 communities had been deserted by residents who moved to IDP camps in Anka and Bagega. The affected communities include Yarkuka,Taggaram,Ruma,Tungar Shehu,Tsabta, Faruwa, Kaya, Kuru-Kuru,Takkuwoyi, Zaune, Gidan Duna, Reri, Nagarawa, Gidan nabarau and Dokar bera.
In the Gusau LGA, 27 villages had been abandoned by people who moved to IDP camps in Mada and Gusau.
In the Maru LGA, residents of 23 villages had fled to Magami town.
In the Zurmi LGA, eight communities were deserted including Rimni Tsohuwa, Rimni Sabuwa, Yallatawa, Sabaru, Gidan Kara, Dada, Marmaro and Kadamutsa.
In addition, residents of Kadawa, Magarya and Yanbuki villages relocated to Kaura-Namoda on Friday when bandits killed 93 people in the communities.
Although security agents were drafted to the villages, many residents refused to go back to the communities.
A former Commissioner of Zamfara Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Faika Ahmed, had during a four-day workshop for review of the state’s Social Protection Policy in Abuja disclosed that in “Zamfara has 34,000 heads of households who are internally displaced persons.”
And at the Government Secondary School, Tsunami Gusau which had been turned into an IDP camp, showed that there were 2,525 internally displaced persons in the camp.
In Cross River State, government is battling with the problem of Cameroonian refugees who were displaced from the neighbouring country.
Yobe State is affected by insurgency particularly in local government areas such as Geidam, Yunusari, Hausari and Buni Yadi, but the displaced persons relocated to houses of relatives within Damaturu, the state capital.
In Plateau State, most of the 17 LGAs have over 10,000 internally displaced persons, the most affected being Bassa, Barkin Ladi, Riyom, Jos South, Mangu and Bokkos LGA and Jos North
In Adamawa State, two camps remaining for victims of insurgency are the Malkohi IDP camp with a total IDP population of 1,850 and the Fufore IDP Camp with 2,000 victims.
In many communities in Niger State, particularly in the Shiroro LGA, farmers were abandoning their farms because of attacks by bandits, who kidnapped residents and demanded ransom.
This story first appeared in THE PUNCH, https://punchng.com/12-states-battle-idp-crisis-communities-farms-deserted/
