Eight
people died at the Mbawa Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Benue
between January and this month of May.
The
Chairman of the camp, Mr Geoffrey Torgenga, made the disclosure in Makurdi on
Wednesday while speaking with newsmen during a visit to the camp.
He blamed
the deaths on acute hunger and different diseases at the camp, located at Daudu
community in the Guma Local Government Area of Benue.
Torgenga
said that the latest death at the camp was recorded last weekend and that the
body of the deceased was still in the morgue.
A
correspondent of News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who was in the team that visited
the camp, learnt that the camp received food items last before the general
elections last February.
The
chairman said that the IDPs were currently living on charity from civil
society, religious bodies, individuals and non-governmental bodies.
He said
that 3,515 IDPs were currently residing at the camp and that they had lived in
the camp for more than one year.
Torgenga
lamented the deplorable condition at the camp, saying that IDPs living were at
the mercy of the elements night and day.
According
to him, the IDPs have been venturing into nearby bushes to fetch firewood to
sell to make a living.
He
disclosed that a three-year-old boy, identified as Nani Iyorkaa, who went to
fetch firewood had been missing since last March.
However,
one of the IDPs, Edward Nyam, 63, who had been residing at the camp since
January last year, expressed his appreciation to individuals and groups that
had been assisting the IDPs.
He thanked
the Benue government for deploying officials of the state’s emergency
management agency to the camp recently to help the IDPs.
Nyam
appealed to the State Government to do everything possible to ensure the return
of peace in communities so that the IDPs could return to their homes.
The Camp
Manager, Ms Angela Omirigbe, declined to comment on developments at the camp,
saying that she had just been posted to the camp and that she was not in a
position to talk to reporters.
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