From: Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
About 10,000 Cameroonians, who fled from violent crisis in that country, are currently taking refuge in some communities in Kwande Local Government area of Benue State.
Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Emmanuel Shior, who disclosed this to newsmen in his office, on Saturday, lamented that the influx of the displaced persons was already taking a toll on the state.
He said as soon as report of the influx of the refugees came into the ears of Governor Samuel Ortom about two weeks ago, he immediately set machinery in motion to ensure that they were well taken care of.
“About two weeks back, I was contacted by the governor while I was in Abuja. The Governor said he had been trying to reach the Director General of NEMA on phone to no avail. Incidentally, I was waiting to see him then. So, I told the governor that I would deliver his message and I did.
While describing the Cameroonian crisis as a human catastrophe, Shior said the state government through SEMA had already visited the area, placed the refugees in two camps in Anande and Abande communities in Kwande Local Government Area as well as moved two truck loads of relief materials to support the refugees.
“It’s a human catastrophe in which we are witnessing influx of cameronians into Kwande villages. We have taken two trailer loads of relief materials to the people who has been put in two camps. The situation there is not really good because there are no access road to the place. They are in the interior areas of Kwande.
The SEMA boss said the state government was initially planning to relocate the refugees to a better location where it would be easy to visit them but was advised against taking such step especially as the state was just coming out of the menace of the perennial herdsmen invasion.
Shior also revealed that 500 persons were displaced after 72 houses were burnt down in Agirigi community of Katsina-Ala Local government area following last week’s killing of a soldier in the area.
The SEMA ES said he was told that the soldier who was traveling from Lagos to Takum in Taraba State in a jeep had stopped by to take fuel after which he continued his journey.
While noting that the soldier who was said to have hailed from Takum was probably going to deliver the jeep to its owner when he ran into some armed bandits were said to have shot at him in his car and he died.
He disclosed that already, the state had notified humanitarian organizations including, UNHCR, UNICEF, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) as well as other donor agencies to come to the aid of the state in bring succor to the refugees.