Hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) residing at the Maga IDPs Camp in Mbayongo, on the outskirts of Makurdi, took over the Makurdi-Lafia highway Wednesday in protest of an alleged lack of food and other essential amenities.
Angry IDPs barricaded the highway near the camp’s junction, holding tree branches and singing solidarity songs such as “We are hungry” and “We want to go back home,” among others.
The demonstration came just 24 hours after Nigeria’s First Lady visited the state and donated N1 billion to support displaced families in Benue.
One of the demonstrators, Rebecca Awuse, claimed that they staged the protest to call the government’s attention to their suffering.
She said, “We want to go back home. We are hungry, and we are tired of staying in the camp where we are not being taken care of.”
In response, Tema Ager, Information Officer for the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (BSEMA), stated that the demonstration was politically motivated.
He said, “The IDPs are not being starved; the government is providing food for them. Those IDPs in Yelewata usually abandon their camp and move to the International Market camp in Makurdi because it is a recent camp and people have been trooping in there for food.
“Even when we take food to them in Yelewata, they still come back to the International Market to collect more.
“The major issue that triggered this protest is politics, all because the First Lady visited yesterday and announced the donation of N1 billion. What the First Lady, Mrs. Tinubu, announced yesterday cannot happen today, and moreover, the money is for resettlement, not for food.
“Some of them are protesting that they were given money and we have not shared it with them.”
Speaking on when the last food items were distributed to IDPs in the state, Ager said, “As we speak, food is being distributed to them. The last time food was distributed to the IDPs was in May this year, but currently, food is being distributed to them across the state.”
