By Sam Tyav, Makurdi
About 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue State have benefited from the ECOWAS Peace Fund, in collaboration with a nongovernmental organization (NGO),UCare Nigeria.
In a chat with Communications Officer of Ucare Nigeria, Mr. Paul Uche, he said the intervention was to bring relief to displaced persons.
The communications expert said he was satisfied with what UCare Nigeria has done so far which he explained included the provision of free medical services, treatment of common illnesses, installation of solar lights, and building of state-of-the-art toilet systems designed to be accessible to persons with special needs.
Other interventions, according to him, were provision of mosquito nets, mama kits for expectant mothers as well as adolescent girl kits to enable them behave as every other human being.
“We also provided a solar-powered borehole to give them clean and safe drinking water,” Uche revealed.
Speaking on feedback, he disclosed that the IDPs were appreciative of the support as the initiative would go a long way to ease their hardship.
According to him, the desire of Ucare Nigeria and ECOWAS Peace Fund was to alleviate the suffering of the IDPs as well as the neighbouring or host communities.
He noted that the desire of the organization was to accommodate all IDPs in its interventions, pointing out, however, that there are financial constraints.
Therefore, he appealed to other organizations and public-spirited individuals to also assist the IDPs.
PHOTO CAPTION: A nurse attending to a patient during a free medical outreach organized by UCare Nigeria.
