‘90% of IDPS not in camps’
In this interview with journalists in Abuja, the vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on the North-East Initiative (PCNI), Alhaji Tijjani Tumsah, speaks, among other things, on the N2 billion Educational Support Programme recently launched to support 67,000 students and 6,750 teachers in the northeast with a view to ensuring a conducive learning environment through provision of educational instruction materials for primary and secondary schools.
What is the education support programme of the Presidential Committee on North-East about?
Before the insurgency, the region was behind in all development indices, but it was compounded by the insurgency due to the large scale destruction of infrastructures as well as the socioeconomic life of the people. It was in view of this that the PCNI conceived the idea of Education Support Programme whereby primary and secondary schools are targeted for assistance.
“Not all schools and students would be covered by the programme, but only those with critical needs; and so far, we have identified 67,000 students in the state and local government areas across the region.
“The identification and selection was carried out in collaboration with Ministries of Education and individual school managements in the States and Local governments in the region”.
What is your committee doing in the area of security to ensure that your current intervention is not wasted?
The needs are plenty, but the fundamental issue we have to think about is the security. Nothing happens without security. There have been instances where you had reconstructed schools and they were destroyed. So, you have to do it again. But basically, people need food security. We need food and food has been gulping a substantial amount of funds of intervention.
The IDPs that most Nigerians are familiar with are in camps. Now, these IDPs constitute less than 10 percent of what IDPs are because most of them don’t go to camps, they go to the communities, they go to their brothers, they go to their in-laws, they go to their families and some of them who are a little bit endowed will even get accommodation. Now, that is 90 percent of IDPS.
But what we have done also in conjunction with our partners is to target and find those IDPs that are in the host communities to also reach them because there is a lot of poverty.
But I think we have done a lot with what we were able to identify. Sometime in 2018, a strategy was created with the Borno State government and the United Nations. We had started to move people back to their communities only for them to come back again in November and only for them to be attacked again. So, it’s a tough and dynamic assignment as it is now. They cannot go out a certain distance outside of their locations. So, we have to continue to assist them in terms of humanitarian aids.
What is the current number of IDPs?
It used to be 2.4 million, but the current number we are dealing with at about last year is 1.7 million. With the new displacements now, the report is still going on to see how many will surface.
Beyond the humanitarian aids, what is your committee doing to reunite the IDPs with their families?
We have created a strategy centred on The IDPs that most Nigerians are familiar with are in camps. Now, these IDPs constitute less than 10 percent of what IDPs are because most of them don’t go to camps, they go to the communities, they go to their brothers, they go to their inlaws, they go to their families and some of them who are a little bit endowed will even get accommodation. Now, that is 90 percent of IDPS basic security. Most of the places that they have to go back to are probably not safe now. So, we are desperately hoping that the security situation is going to get better so that people are able to return to their communities.
There are allegations of diversion of funds and items meant for the IDPs.
Since I’ve been here, some errant workers have been caught doing that and they have been punished. And that also applies to other crimes in terms of the cash themselves.
Every camp is being run by the state governments, the National Emergency Management Agency there in charge of the camps in all the states.
So, the security architecture of those camps includes the police the NDLEA and also the military. Some camps are being fed by local partners.
We have not seen on a big scale mismanagement of foodstuffs that we have given.
But I can imagine that there are some that happen where you have an IDP in the camp who was given a ration, who has to satisfy other needs and who feels that he can get rid of some of his stuffs to buy something else.
For instance, if I give you a bag or two bags of rice and you have to sell to treat your child who is sick and there isn’t immediate medical attention, you know sometimes they do that. But that is on a small scale. But in Nigerian context, if you did it well one million bags of rice and a little one bag of rice is found in the market, that becomes an issue.
Every camp is being run by the state governments, the National Emergency Management Agency there in charge of the camps in all the states. So, the security architecture of those camps includes the police the NDLEA and also the military. Some camps are being fed by local partners
The House of Representatives last year accused the NEMA of mismanaging funds meant to tackle hunger in the northeast. Is there any synergy between your committee and the agency?
I think the members of the National Assembly were more concerned about the process than the money itself. When people hear billions of naira spent on food, maybe it does not resonate that food is eaten daily. And if you do the mathematics, you will see that we are doing almost very little; and that is why donor partners have to help. Most of these camps that are there under the auspices of food programme under the United Nations and the money we spend is so insignificant compared to others.
The value of that (amount spent on IDP food) would be N54,000 for a household per month. So, if you total the number that the family requires in a month, you multiply by the number of households, the figures would be insignificant to you. But in a newspaper, N10 billion is significant.
There have been reports of abuses at the IDP camps. How is your committee talking this?
Well, there structures there to make sure that if there are such abuses, then there are punishments and punitive methods of putting people back to account. But the abuses have reduced significantly over the years. We are ensuring that that is reduced absolutely. And I want to assure them (IDPs) that the government will continue to look out for their welfare as best as we can.