Plateau Killings: Four IDPs Die in Camps

Seriki Adinoyi in Jos

Four Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the recent herdsmen attacks in some parts of Plateau State have died in camp.

70-year-old Dachollom Bature died last Sunday at Riyom Mini Depot camp after battling an undisclosed ailment. The camp allegedly occupies 6,000 persons; 90 per cent of who are women and children, facing poor sanitary conditions.

Although Bature allegedly took ill before getting to the camp, his health was believed to have degenerated in the camp due to inadequate medical care, the camp being one of the most neglected.

The following day, which was July 2, 2018, two persons died in the same camp in Riyom in an accident involving two motorcycles which had a head-on collision.

A camp official, Mrs. Jane Tok, reported that the two were in a hurry to find means of survival for their families in the camp. She said one was returning from where he had gone to hustle for some money to provide for his family, while the other was going out for the same purpose when their motorcycles had head-on collision very close to the camp.
Both Samson Yohanna, 33, and Gabriel Markus, 35, died instantly, Tok disclosed.

Same day, an 82-year-old woman reportedly slumped and died at an IDP camp in Ban, Heipang, Barkin Ladi council area after a surveillance helicopter flew over the camp with a loud noise.

The deceased, Nandis Ishaku, displaced by the crisis from Nghar village reportedly collapsed and died at the loud sound of the helicopter. She was however believed to be hypertensive and lacked medical care while in the camp.

Most of the IDP camps in the state are allegedly faced with the worse sanitary, medical and humanitarian conditions for human habitation. The situation, a local non-governmental organisation, Women and Children in Community Development Initiative in Nigeria (WOCCI), fears could lead to severe disease outbreaks if not checked.

Managing Director of the NGO, Mrs. Edwina Mang, particularly warned on the health of women and children who constitute the larger populations in most camps.

Mang said: “You could see that they don’t have good sanitation facilities, safe drinking water or even good places to sleep. This is already a threat to human health, especially for the children who are most likely to play around carelessly and use their hands to eat without washing. Diarrhea is eminent!”

Delivering some humanitarian aids to three camps, Geosciences Camp at Angle-D, Mang requested the state and local governments to quickly upgrade the camps to forestall any “medical crisis.”

Already, three diarrhea cases have been reported in the Riyom Mini Depot camp. Although the Riyom Local Government Area Health Department has isolated the affected children for treatment, there are other medical conditions that the IDPs have to battle with.

Mang therefore appealed for the establishment of a clinic aside the provision of water and sanitation facilities for all the IDP camps.
Red Cross last Monday had disclosed that there are nearly 8,000 IDPs in just five camps, and about 15 camps exist across the three council areas affected by the recent crisis in the state.

According to the Red Cross report, all the camps it visited are practicing open defecation due to lack of toilet facilities, except only one. “This is a great challenge as this is likely to result to severe diarrhea, which if not properly managed can result to cholera.”