Over 80 Children Delivered in Benue IDPs’ Camp, SEMA Reveals

George Okoh in Makurdi

Benue State internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) camps have recorded an increase in births from January to July this year, with over 80 children given birth to.
Executive Secretary of the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Dr. Emmanuel Shior, who made the disclosure in Makurdi at the weekend, while distributing food and non-food materials to IDPs across the state, noted that the agency has no right to regulate child birth.

“To deserve to have sex is human needs that cannot be controlled by SEMA,” he said.
The SEMA boss who denied receiving any donation from the Minister of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator George Akume for the IDPs in the state, urged members of the public to disregard such social media reports.

He pointed out that SEMA remains the coordinating body and advised anyone or group intending to donate materials to IDPs to involve the agency, because an official report is usually written to appropriate quarters for record purposes.

According to Shior, the agency was working in collaboration with the National Population Commission (NPC) to see that IDPs were captured in the ongoing trial census in the state.

While calling on the federal government and the international community to look towards the needs of IDPs that have allegedly been displaced by Fulani herdsmen that occupied their ancestral homes, he noted that the people want to return home, warning herders to vacate such communities with immediate effect.

“Benue IDPs are yearning to go back to their communities but insecurity could not allow them. It is the wish of Benue State Government to return them home. Let me sound a warning to herders to vacate Benue communities with immediate effect,” he added.

Shior explained that over 200 people who were displaced in Okpokwu Local Government Area in a recent attack were also to benefit from this month’s food items.