…Construct 60 homes for victims, 38 others at roofing stage

The Benue State Government has said it has raked in N1,275,000,000 as donations to assist victims of the Yelewata attacks, where over 200 people were killed by terrorists armed herdsmen in the Guma Local Government Area of the state.

The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Barr. Deborah Abe, who disclosed this at a news conference in Makurdi, said the highest donation of N1 billion came from the First Lady of the Federation, Oluremi Tinubu, followed by the Nasarawa State Government with N150 million, the United Bank for Africa, N100 million and N25 million from the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Nigeria.

Barr. Abe said the funds were judiciously applied as the state government has already constructed 60 homes for victims, with 38 others at various roofing stages, while 5 are under construction.

The SSG who is the Chairman, Technical Committee on Implementation of the donations for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) disclosed that the committee, constituted by Governor Alia later formed another team comprising MDA’s, ALGON, DSS, IOM, UNHCR, Red Cross, WHO and BENGONET and after series of meetings with the IDPs, work plans were developed for 13 different thermatic areas where the funds were disbursed for the benefit of the victims.

She enumerated the thematic areas to include: Cash Transfer (N56,325,000); Food and Nutrition (N224,500,000); Shelter (N28,900,000); Wash (N125,325,000); Security (N56,125,000); Agriculture (N56,125,000); and Resettlement (N277,350,000).

Others thermatic areas identified were: Health (N122,250,000); Peace and Reconciliation (N16,000,000); Sustainability (N24,800,000); Livelihoods (N21,625,000); Host Community (N127,500,000) and Education (N148,175,000), thus totalling N1,275,000,000.

She said, “We had an engagement to construct 60 homes for the displaced population in Yelewata. 60 homes will not accommodate all of them, but that’s what the funds could do. So going forward, we are calling on other partners to come and partner with us so that our people can stay in decent accommodation, be close to their land and continue with their source of livelihood.

“As I speak to you today, we have 38 of those homes at the roofing stage. I want to call on you to make a trip to Yelewata, it’s not far to verify for yourself. Three out of the 38 have been roofed already, but altogether, we have 43, so there are about 5 that haven’t reached the roofing stage yet, but 38 homes are at the roofing stage.

“The idea is that Governor Hyacinth Alia does not want his people to continue to live in the IDPs, and with this prototype housing, the state is going to begin a gradual relocation of its citizens to more dignifying housing closer to their ancestral homes so that their lives can be a semblance of normalcy”, the SSG exclaimed.

She explained that the Cash Transfer component has recorded 90 per cent of its assignment, stressing that the outstanding 10 per cent was because of certain bank discrepancies.

She said that the Committee has reached about 85 percent the work assigned to it to resettle victims of the Yelewata attack and other displaced communities.

She, however observedl that about 5,893 of displaced persons in the state have been placed on the State’s Health Insurance scheme, as the Technical Committee, she said, has also reticulated water and provided boreholes to some IDP host communities in the state.