•US group plans 4 relief centres
From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri and Fred Itua, Abuja
Borno Governor, Kashim Shettima has accused some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) intervening in the humanitarian challenges in the state of “under-dealing.”
The governor alleged that some of the NGOs are “taking huge advantage of the pains of the IDPs in Borno and defrauding foreign philanthropists under the pretense of trying to help victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.”
A statement issued and given to journalists in Maiduguri, yesterday, by his spokesman, Mallam Isa Gusau quoted Shettima as saying some groups he suspected to be businessmen “masquerading as NGOs.
“I need to open up here by saying that in the midst of credible organisations trying to help us in Borno, we have seen occasional instances of some ‘business groups’ masquerading as NGOs smiling to the bank on the agony of our people. I do not mean to disrespect any sincere NGO but, there are those I have seen, whose only interest is to go round thousands of IDPS and figure out sick and skinny looking infants, pose for the cameras with them and upload on the social media mainly to attract funding from concerned philanthropists abroad.
Regardless, a United States of America based non-profit organisation, Empower54, has revealed that women and children adopted by the Boko Haram Islamic group are starving.
The organisation said at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, that the fresh move adopted by the insurgents was to enable them stay alive since the Federal Government has cut off food supplies to the dreaded Sambisa forest.
Founder of the organisation, Modupe Ozolua said the rescued children and women were malnourished. She said due to lack of availability of food, the terrorists only provided food to men who were engaged in the fight against Federal Government forces, while women and children were abandoned. “It was when we got to Bama that we learnt that the extremely malnourished ones (children and women) were the people rescued from Sambisa by the Nigerian Army.
“Due to lack of food available to the terrorists, they only give food to the men, not women and children,” Ozolua said.