SEMA distributes food items to Benue IDPs

…Says 8 communities in Kwande are presently under siege

By Titus Atondu, Makurdi

Benue State Emergency Management  Agency (SEMA) has distributed food items worth millions of naira to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) scattered across the state.

The Executive Secretary, SEMA, Dr. Emmanuel Shior, disclosed this to journalists yesterday in Makurdi, while decrying the continuous attack on Benue communities that has increased the number of displaced persons.

While revealing that the number of displaced persons in Benue now is over 2 million, he lamented the humanitarian crisis caused by the frequent attacks that led to the displacement of people, pointed out that eight communities in Kwande local government area are presently under siege.

Shior further explained that seven  official  and 20 unofficial camps are housing the displaced persons in the State and the state government is overstretched in terms of logistics in catering for the displaced persons..

He, however, debunked the rumour making the rounds that the distributed relief materials do not get to the IDPs in their various camps.

“Many believe that when we load relief materials, we do not take them to the camps, that it is a sham. But I believe that the media cannot be part of any sham and that is why I always carry the media along during our distribution process,” Dr. Shior maintained.