…Left many children, women orphans and widows; burnt markets picking up

Armed herdsmen terrorists have set ablaze many houses, schools, markets as well and healthcare centres in the Guma local government area in multiple attacks leaving scores of children and women orphans and widows respectively in their land.

The Benue State Chairman of the Association of Local Government in Nigeria (ALGON) who doubles as Guma local government chairman, Hon. Maurice Orwough, disclosed this during an interaction with some selected journalists in Makurdi, yesterday.

Hon. Orwough said the attacks and killings which antedate his assumption of office have been one of his greatest challenges, emphasizing that almost 90 per cent of the schools in Guma local government are shut down as a result of herdsmen attacks.

He also cried that shelter for orphans and widows remains another serious problem facing his government.

The ALGON leader claimed: “We lost a lot of lives because of armed herdsmen attacks and as a result of that, we have a lot of orphans and widows. We also lost a lot of houses to the attacks. If you go to my village, I doubt if there is any building standing.

“Although some of the IDPs have returned home on their own, there are no shelters for them and are not sleeping well. So shelter for the orphans and widows is one of the major problems we are facing in Guma local government area”.

“Almost 90% of the schools in Guma are shut down as a result of herdsmen attacks. Some were burnt down, the little ones we have available now are standing because of the presence of security men stationed there and we are making efforts to relocate them to other safer places. But I tell you, the whole of Guma LGA, I doubt if there are five schools standing.

“In terms of hospitals, it is the same thing. Primary Health Care (PHC) are all burnt down in the local government, there is none standing as I speak to you. There is a general hospital in the local government but I can’t tell whether it is functioning or not I can tell you that there are no hospitals in the area which is what we are facing. From Kaseyo to Uleva to Waku to Gbajimba villages which covers several kilometers, there is no single hospital”.

Hon. Orwough who solicited the support of donor agencies to come to his aid to tackle the challenge headlong, further
called on the Federal Government to expedite action on its earlier promise to rebuild ravaged communities and facilitate the return of the IDPs back to their ancestral homes.

The council chairman said a few markets out of many are functioning such as Gbajimba, Daudu, Agasha, Ukpiam, Umenger, Yelwata and Ukohol which according to him are just picking up because the inhabitants ‘are just coming back and are trying to see if they can settle down’.

He advised residents to continue to be patient as the government is not resting on its oars for the return of permanent peace to enable the people to return home and start normal farming activities.

The ALGON chairman lamented the continued infiltration of local government areas by herdsmen to attack and kill people, saying the association on it’s part has procured vehicles including motorcycles and distributed them to all the 23 local government areas of the state to help curb the worsening insecurity situation.

ALGON, he maintained, is also collaborating with other security agencies to stem the attacks and killings in Kwande and other local governments.

“We are also trying to key into the agenda of Governor Hyacinth Alia in trying to make sure that the security of the people is guaranteed.

Alluding to the local government autonomy granted councils, Hon. Orwough and most of his colleagues came prepared to work for the benefit of their people, saying when the funds finally come, “we will know how to work with it”.

He said he met a lot of problems on the ground such as lack of potable water, deplorable secretariat complex, poor state of both the chairman and council’s clinic (which was burnt down by the insurgents) and had to renovate them, adding that at the moment plans were underway to renovate some existing schools; construct a 15km road between Ortese, Ivokor and Upkiam, adding that efforts are on for the construction of the Daudu-Gbajimba road as designs are ready.

Hon. Orwough also reiterated his resolve to rebuild the seven bridges cut off by flooding and boost agriculture to boost farming activities.