IDPs, Out-of-school Children, Stains On Nigeria's Conscience – Dogara

Former speaker of House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara has said the major problems confronting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Nigeria are lack of food, problem of shelter, poor health care, poor access to education, and lack of access to clean water supply as well as higher rates of mortality than the general population.

He said there have been public outcry regarding rampant cases of physical violence, sexual assault and abduction unleashed on IDPs across all the camps in Nigeria.

"The stories are so deprecating to a point that we have turned ourselves into a worldwide object of ridicule. Of all the heart-rending stories, it is the plight of women IDPs that bother me the most. It is said that, sex crimes are a serious problem because they violate personal freedoms, traumatise the victim, and often lead to undesired pregnancy, unsafe abortions and complications tied to early childbearing age, or even death,” he said.

According to statement issued by his media aide, Turaki Hassan and made available to journalists in Bauchi yesterday, Dogara spoke at the 7th Henna Ball Awards Night organised by Tozali Magazine held at ICC, Abuja with the topic: “The IDP Question as a Stain on Nigeria’s conscience.”

Dogara said most IDPs are forced to do unthinkable things just to survive, "Since women significantly outnumber men and nearly all are either the de facto and/or de jure heads of their households having lost their husbands and breadwinners to the crises that drove them to the camps, you can only imagine the pressure on such women to do all within their means in order to earn extra income to support their families.