GOVERNOR ALIA ANNOUNCES PLANS TO CLOSE SOME BENUE IDP CAMPS AS SECURITY IMPROVES
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Agency Report
Benue State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, has announced plans to shut down some Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across the state following improvements in the security situation.
Alia disclosed this during a media interaction with the Renewed Hope Ambassadors Presidential Media Team, led by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the team is in Benue to inspect completed and ongoing Federal Government and state infrastructure projects across the state’s 23 Local Government Areas.
According to the governor, improved security, aided by interventions from the Federal Government, has brought relative peace to several communities, allowing many displaced residents to voluntarily return home and resume farming.
He said security developments were being monitored through security agencies deployed across the LGAs, traditional institutions and residents, who provide information on happenings within their communities.
Alia recalled that 15 IDP camps were established across the state following attacks that forced residents from their homes.
However, he said the improving security situation was gradually changing the circumstances of displaced persons.
“We are already making some plans to close down some because the IDP occupants have voluntarily gone back to do their farming,” the governor said.
He added that the state government was collaborating with international organisations, including the United Nations and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), to develop sustainable solutions for displaced persons.
Alia stressed that the goal was not simply to return displaced residents to their farms only for them to flee again, but to create a secure environment that would allow them to remain and rebuild their lives.
The governor said the declining population of the camps was a positive development, noting that several returnees had resumed farming and were also rebuilding their homes in their ancestral communities.
He expressed optimism that sustained security efforts would enable the returnees to remain in their communities, restore their livelihoods and contribute to Benue’s agricultural economy.
On infrastructure, Alia said his administration had declared a state of emergency on road development, resulting in improved connectivity across several parts of the state.
He said urban renewal projects were also ongoing, while major roads in key townships had been reconstructed or upgraded to enhance movement and economic activities.
The governor also highlighted interventions in the primary education sector, saying hundreds of local government primary schools that had suffered years of neglect were being rehabilitated and restored.
He disclosed that his administration had recruited 9,700 teachers for primary schools as part of efforts to strengthen basic education across the state.
On healthcare, Alia said his administration had upgraded primary healthcare centres and transformed the state’s teaching hospital to a standard that has attracted patients from neighbouring states.
He attributed the increasing influx of patients to the availability of medical specialists and the introduction of a VIP wing at the facility.
The governor further disclosed that medical equipment procured through collaboration with the United States government and subnational authorities was expected to arrive in the state for distribution to primary healthcare facilities across the LGAs.
Alia said his administration had continued to monitor its commitments to the people, stressing that political promises must be backed by deliberate action and measurable results.
He appreciated the Federal Government for its support, noting that the completion of infrastructure projects remained crucial to enabling citizens to experience the benefits of democratic governance.
Speaking at a dinner hosted by the state government after the media interaction, Onanuga thanked Alia and his deputy, Samuel Ode, for the hospitality extended to the delegation.
He said he invited senior media practitioners to Benue to enable them to witness firsthand the infrastructure development and transformation being undertaken by both the Federal and state governments.
Onanuga particularly commended Alia for reviving moribund facilities, including the Tarakum Mill, Otobi Water Works and the state brewery, describing the projects as catalysts for economic growth.
The presidential spokesperson also praised the administration’s road development initiatives, particularly in remote areas previously affected by insecurity, as well as its payment of teachers’ salaries and outstanding benefits owed to retirees by the previous administration.
(NAN)
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