NGO donates items to displaced households in Plateau

A non-governmental organisation, Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC), of the Catholic Archdiocese of Jos, on Saturday donated relief materials to 306 displaced households at Ban in Barkin Ladi and Bokkos Local Government Areas of Plateau.

Donating the items to the displaced persons, Mr Boniface Anthony, the organisation’s Programme Manager in charge of Emergency Preparedness and Respond Team (EPRT) department, said the gesture was to cushion the sufferings of the affected persons.

According to him, the gesture is in collaboration with Mission 21, a Swiss based organisation.

He explained that the distribution of the items to the victims was after a careful assessment of their immediate needs.

“Since June last year, these households were in this camp after their communities were attacked. This simply means that they have been rendered handicap because they can’t go to their farms or do anything to earn a living.

“We know that some organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and even governments agencies like National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and it’s counterpart in the state have been supporting the IDPs, but it is not enough.

“So, after a careful assessment of their immediate needs, we decided to intervene by donating these items to ameliorate their sufferings and give them a sense of belonging,” Anthony said.

The programme manager promised that the organisation would continue to support the displaced persons to rebuild their houses to enable them go back to their original abodes.

He called on kind spirited individuals and groups to support the displaced persons to enable them bounce back to their normal ways of living.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the organisation distributed the items directly to 200 households in Barkin Ladi and 106 in Bokkos.

Some of the items donated included bags of maize, rice and beans; sleeping mats, blankets and mosquito nets, bags of salts, detergent, washing and bathing soap, seasoning and palm oil.