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| Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at the Kuchingoro Camp, Abuja. photo: Kayode Bello. |
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| The IDP pupils and myself recently. Photo: Kayode Bello. |
Kuchingoro is a place located in Abuja, along Lugbe. There are old and new Kuchingoros in the capital of one of the world’s largest oil producers. So, the new Kuchingoro houses them, tucked in a farther place away from the metropolitan sides of Abuja, in a somewhat forest-like camp where lives and property are endangered due to inadequate security.
Since the Boko Haram insurgents had been asking for the establishment of Islamic caliphates, and the abolition of the Western Education, the booming and detonation of bombs had forced millions to leave where they once called homes.
Many had escaped through the neighbouring borders to Nigeria: Niger, Chad, Cameroun, fleeing through the deserts. Many had been killed while fleeing while many had been killed by the fleeing Boko haram insurgents, so reported.
For Alhaji Usman Adamu, one of the survivors, who hails from Borno State, Gwoza Local Government, he finds a refuge at the Kutchingoro camp for the IDPs. His ordeal started when the Boko Haram insurgents were descending on men or males which made him run through the Cameroun for two weeks, he says, from Adamawa in the North Eastern part of Nigeria.
In terms of educating the children at the camp, there exists a short-fenced space for the children to learn with about six teachers, being a private initiative. The children and women are more vulnerable with the kind of environment they live in at the camp. It was learnt that government takes survival/relief materials to the camp such as food, but they are insufficient to go round. The children who may have lost their loved ones to the Boko Haram insurgency still at large require basic education and provisions to grow and develop. Food is one of the basic necessities of life, it may be seen as the mainstay of life, but enabling environment with adequate shelter and clothing including quality education are quite important and needed at this crucial juncture.
Usman narrated how they arrived at the camp saying they were the first settlers as others followed suit. This means the camp population might grow in days to come.
Usman feels the media need publicize the camp and the challenges of staying at the camp, though he expressed that there are people from the religious sects and other groups who have extended help to them, but much is needed to salvage the situation.
Further findings at the National
Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, in Nigeria, put the number of the Kuchingoro’s IDPs at about 500 as at the last count, while there are other IDP camps in Kuje, Karu, among others, all in Abuja.
A concerted and genuine effort will be needed to put smiles on the faces of the psychologically troubled victims and survivors of the Boko Haram debacle.
As school term is over for the IDP pupils who receive teachings under 4 or 5 canopies in an open, prone field with a heap of refuse at the back of the fence without lavatories, one wonders if any succour or rescue could come their way any time soon.
I took snapshots of the place and I identified some basic needs they require for survival or as aid ranging from chalk boards, chairs, tables, school uniforms, teachers, class rooms, canopies/tents, among others.
At best, the IDP camps could be seen as temporary shelters or abode, with the expectation that governmental and non-governmental organizations must immediately rise up to the occasion of providing permanent places of abode or ensure their safe and sustainable return home. Or, if they choose to be integrated into the new environment or society they found themselves, plans should be on to ensure these without much ado or delay.
Mike Ikape of the Commission expressed that empowerment programmes for the IDPs are better and more impactful than the usual daily donation of foodstuffs, but he nonetheless opined that food is equally important for daily survival.
‘’My family is away from the village, they are in the town in Maiduguri. My children and wife call me on phone, but I always want to see them. Some of us are carpenters, drivers, commercial motor cyclists, or we get vehicles on hire purchase for commercial purpose,’’ said Usman further.
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| Field where the IDP pupils use for classes. Photo: Kayode Bello. |
He said some of the IDPs expressed that they were tailors, barbers, among others but the unavailability of fund or equipment to perform such had rendered them jobless or idle in that apart from the daily donations, they could earn some amount for personal daily upkeep.
Besides, my goal is to help out one way or the other in collaboration with any recognized or registered group, governmental or non-governmental agencies or individuals. Thus, I could be reached via: 09093927630 theconsciencenews@gmail.com.
Together, we can put smiles on somebody’s face.
Editor: Kay Bello, Law Graduate, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, Master's in Public Administration, Philippines, (In View).
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