AKHERE Godwin, Benin
An Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp housing over 900 victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country has been discovered in Edo State.
It was gathered that most of the IDPs in the camp, located in a remote community in Edo South senatorial district of the state, were children between the ages of four months and 20 years.
The camp it was learnt, which originally served as a centre for the needy and founded by the International Christian Centre for Missions, has provided food and shelter for the IDPs since 2013.
When our Correspondent visited the camp, Friday, most of the children were seen receiving lessons from the makeshift classrooms, while some of them who had been infected with chicken pox were quarantined according to gender.
Some of the victims who recounted their ordeal said that they lost all they had to the insurgents who also attacked them in caves where they had initially sought refuge.
One them, Tani Philemon, stated that she had been abducted by the insurgents from her home, in Gwoza Local Government Area of Bornu State, but escaped miraculously after several days of fasting.
She said, “Boko Haram attacked us in our village and we ran to the mountains. But they followed us and killed some people, including my husband. At the mountain, there was no food; we were just eating leaves.
“I searched for my dead husband and buried him by just putting some sand on his corpse. After two days at the mountain, they (Boko Haram) came and abducted me and my children and took us to Gwoza where we spent about three weeks.
“After three days, we fasted and prayed. Suddenly, God made them (insurgents) fall asleep and we managed to escape by climbing a wall; we ran to Cameroon. We spent three days without food and water
“But God sent some people to us who took us to Yola (Adamawa State) and when we got there, we heard of a man of God who helps people in need. He was the one who paid for our transportation to this place (camp).”
Another victim, Grace James, 17, said that she and her family fed on raw maize while on the run, after they were attacked and their home destroyed by the insurgents.
“We kept running for our lives, feeding on fresh maize without cooking it. When we got to a big stream through which we were to cross into Bornu, we saw many dead bodies floating on the stream. But finally got to Bornu and later to Jos. It was in Jos that we heard about a camp in Benin,” she said.
James added, “Some people tried to discourage us from going by telling us that there was child trafficking in Benin but we insisted on going, believing that God would save us. The man in charge of the camp visited us and sponsored our journey to the camp. We are really grateful to the people helping us here; I am not thinking of going back to Bornu State again.”
The Overseer of the ICC, Solomon Folorunsho, disclosed to journalists, during a visit to the camp, that the IDPs were brought to the facility from Bornu and Adamawa States, through Jos, the Plateau State capital.
Folorunsho said that the displaced persons depended on donations from faith-based organisations, institutions and individuals.
He explained: “This centre is a place for mission work and discipleship and also to care for children who are in need from different parts of Nigeria. We have been in existence since 1992, catering for children from different villages who have been abused, oppressed and are orphans in the society.
“We had about 400 children before we saw the need of children in the North East, whose parents were killed. Some of them ran to the mountains where they ate sand, stones and leaves. And there were some who started dying of malnutrition.
“Some of them ran to Cameroon and I started getting phone calls from there that we from the South here should help to rescue these children, as they were just wandering in the streets. That was what prompted us to set up a committee of pastors who located the children and brought them together to verify their identity.
“We started raising funds from here and from that day till now – that is about two years now – we have about 900 children from the North East, added to the ones we had here before. They came in batches.”
He also called for assistance to enable the management of the camp continue to cater for the needs of the victims.
He, however, said that the state government, through the Ministry of Women Affairs, had been notified of the presence of the camp.
Folorunsho said: “It should be about two or three months now that they (government) became aware of this because we are registered with the state and Federal Government. And we have had promises that the governor was coming.
“I think he has been so busy because of the elections and he has been very busy. So, we are still expecting him to come soon to see the children. Maybe he has plans for the centre.
“But right now, we are still hoping. The security here is good but we need more support in that area.”
Efforts to reach the state Commissioner for Women Affairs were unsuccessful at the time of filing the report.
But a source at Government House said that the state government was aware of the presence of the camp but could not confirm if any provision had been made for the displaced persons.
“The government is aware of the IDP camp. It has been there for long. But I would not know about that one (government provision),” the source said.
