– The secretary general of the federation Lawal Babachir has been accused of aiding starvation among various displaced persons in the north east
– A group, Be the Change Organisation (BCO) said Babachir has has refused to act on the file that will galvanize the Presidential Committee on Northern Initiative (PCNI)
A child in one of the internally displaced persons camp in north east Nigeria
On June 3, the media went agog with reports of starvation among Nigeria’s internally displaced persons especially those in the north east.
Also, international medical agency, Medicins San Frontieres in its reports said there were indications that an estimation of nearly 200 people have died of malnutrition and diarrhoea alone between May 23 and June 22.
However, revelations have emerged on some factors that could have led to the starvation in the displaced persons’ camp.
On Thursday, September 1, a group, Be the Change Organisation (BCO) accused the secretary general of the federation, Lawal Babachir of aiding the increase of starvation inside the internally displaced persons camps in the north east.
The group, during a press conference in Abuja condemned the approach by the Nigerian government in addressing the plight of the people displaced by insurgency.
BCo’s convener, Miriam Ikunaiye said the plight of the displaced individuals could have been avoided if Babachir had played his role in ensuring that a Presidential Committee on Northern Initiative (PCNI) set up by the President Muhammadu Buhari is duly established.
PCNI is the apex body of the existing Presidential Initiative on Northeast (PINE), the Safe School Initiative (SSI) and the Victim Support Fund (VSF).
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However, Ikunaiye said: “So far the PCNI has remained un-commissioned because the secretary to the government of the federation has refused to act on the file that will galvanise the committee.”
“Therefore, we are calling on Lawal Babachir, the secretary to the government of the federation to please see the need to free us from this unnecessary administrative bottleneck and stop stalling the take-off of PCNI because we can’t play politics with lives,” Ikunaiye said.
Also, the national youth leader of BCO, Abdulhamid A-Dankyarko appealed to the federal government for immediate, medium and long term plans aimed at assisting the IDPs.
A-Dankyarko said he was hopeful that an awareness devoid of gimmicks and political antics by leaders will yield positive response
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