Dr Ibrahim Conteh, the outgoing Chief, United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), Enugu Field Office has told Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue State not to be discouraged because there is light for them at the end of the tunnel.
Conteh encouraged the IDPs at the Ukpiam camp in Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of the state on Tuesday, when he paid them a farewell visit, just as he praised the resilience of the IDPs.
While he told them that work would soon commence on the proposed school at the camp, he patted the IDPs for always prioritising their needs.
He appreciated government efforts at providing for the needs of the IDPs, even as he told the government that despite the paucity of funds, the organisation would always come asking for it to do more for the displaced persons.
According to him, “My final word to Benue State and any other state that I have worked is a word of hope. There is a lot of hope in this country. The potential is there; apparently, the country has been affected by a lot of situations but there’s a lot of resilience by communities even in a situation like this.
“Coming to the camp, you see people who are quite happy and are striving to move forward and trying to educate their children to work hard; to put food on the table; that’s very encouraging.
“They are not always sitting and waiting for the United Nations or government to come and support them; they also try on their own. Of course, there are things that they’re not able to do and those things, we try to give them support. But we also know that there are things they can do.
On the setting up of schools in some IDP camps across the state, Conteh explained that “Funding had already been received; that of Ukpiam camp would be set up very soon. We already have the budget and we are doing the contract in the process now; probably within the next two weeks, they (contractors) will start erecting the temporary learning centres.
“It’s not really a permanent school, it’s a semi-permanent school to give the opportunity to children not to sit under the trees to learn but to sit in a proper classroom. We will also be providing desks and chairs to ensure that these children have a proper learning environment.
“For now, we only have funding for this camp and we are planning to put two big units so that we can have between 500 to 600 children in there. But we are also still looking for more funding. As we get more funding we will continue to do more. So, this is not the end; at least, they can have a place to go to school and we will continue to address the needs as they are there and as we have the resources.”
On the part of the government, he said, “But we will also continue to knock on the doors of government because we think that government efforts at addressing the situation of women and children are very critical.
“So, we will continue to knock on the doors of government to do more especially in situations like this where people are affected. We want the Government to pay more attention to do more for these communities.”
He however stated that “My absence does not change anything because somebody is going to replace me and that person is going to continue the good work that we have already started. So, we will continue to engage the people,” he said.
