Relief items worth N500m have been
distributed to about 116,000 internally displaced persons in Yobe State,
the Federal Government has said.
It said the assistance to victims of
insurgency in the North-East was approved by President Goodluck
Jonathan
and was carried out by the Presidential Committee on Relief Procurement
and Distribution.
A statement from the National Emergency
Management Agency on Sunday stated that the Federal Government had
approved N1.5bn for the special committee under the chairmanship of
NEMA.
While distributing the relief materials
in Damaturu, the Director-General, NEMA, Mr. Sani Sidi, who doubles as
the PCRP chairman, said the items were procured based on identified
basic needs of the people.
He said proper arrangements had been
made to ensure direct distribution to the target beneficiaries, adding
that the items would be distributed by members of staff of NEMA in
collaboration with the officials of the Yobe State government and the
Red Cross throughout the state.
Sidi, who was represented by the
agency’s Director of Disaster Risk Reduction, Mr. Alhassan Nuhu, said
another consignment was in Gashua for easy distribution to the IDPs in
the northern area of the state.
He said about 15,000 displaced persons were in Damaturu while others were in various locations across the state.
The Minister of Science and Technology,
Dr. Abdu Bulama, said the relief items were in furtherance of the fight
against insurgency and provision of necessary support to those affected
by the security challenge in the North-East.
The Yobe State Governor, Mr. Ibrahim
Geidam, who was represented by his deputy, Danladi Ali, assured that the
state would cooperate with the Federal Government to address the
security challenge and support the affected persons.
