6th June, 2018
About 5,200 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Adamawa, have relocated to Gombe State after they were rejected by their host communities, an official has said.
Malam Mohammed Garba, the Rescue and Rehabilitation Officer of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Gombe.
Garba explained that the IDPs relocated from Guyuk Local Government Area (LGA) of Adamawa to Balanga LGA in Gombe State, adding that their rejection by the host communities compelled them to return to their ancestral home to begin life afresh.
He said on receiving information of their arrival in Balanga LGA, some officials of the agency went and discovered that the Displaced Persons were living in two blocks of four class rooms, while some were being accommodated in the host communities.
“We went there and made an assessment; we are now waiting for approval for intervention from the government,’’ he said,
Garba said the state current has a total 31, 909 registered IDPs, who have been integrated into various host communities.
“We have not captured the 5,200 on our data bank yet, by the time we capture them, the number will be higher,” he said.
Hajiya Amina Ahman, the state’s coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also confirmed the relocation of the IDPs, saying the agency had already visited Balanga to assess their living condition.
She promised to visit them as soon as relief materials were received from the headquarters of the agency in Abuja.