Malnutrition: NEMA commences feeding of 1.6m IDPs in Borno State

NaijaAgroNet:

The North-East zonal office of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in Maiduguri, has commenced direct responsibility of daily feeding of estimated 1.6 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), reports NaijaAgroNet.

This present activity, NaijaAgroNet learnt has taken off at various resettlement camps and other satellite centres across Borno State, in effort to address malnutrition and other related humanitarian issues currently being faced by IDP camps.

The North East Coordinator of the agency, Mallam Mohammed Kanar, made this disclosure at the flag-off of the distribution and presentation of relief items to officials of State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, for onward delivery to IDPs in the state.

“The decision to resume 100% feeding of IDPs by NEMA is to complement effort of the state government and other humanitarian agencies. With sustained effort by the military in liberating many communities, more IDPs are now willing to go back to their communities to continue their normal lives” he said.

He pointed out, NEMA was solely feeding the IDPs, but it stopped doing so in the last two to three months following coordinated effort by the federal and the state government and other international donor agencies in managing the crisis.

He noted that with concerted efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari towards the plight of IDPs and victims of insurgency, NEMA had been mandated to resume and take care of feeding of IDPs.

NaijaAgroNet recalls that recently, officials of Medicine San Frontiers, known as Doctors without Borders, reported that there was acute malnutrition and food crisis at various camps in Borno State, leading to deaths, but the state government through Governor Kashim Shettima denied the report.

The governor insisted that those that suffered severe malnutrition in Bama and other camps were some hostages freed from insurgency, who spent over two years in captivity without enough food and access to health care delivery before they were taken to IDP camps.

Uboshe Uboshe/GEE

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