text: In Jos, IDPs lament - The Nation Nigeria
  In Jos, IDPs lament
  Posted By: Yusufu Aminu Idegu On: December 22, 2015 December 21, 2015 In: Northern Report
  Their lamentations were akin to those of the Israelite's who suffered atrocious ill-treatment in the hands of their Babylonian captors. They were homesick and wondered how they could sing their national song in a strange land. They looked forward to the day they would be taken back to their ancestral homes.
  Victims of Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast who are in a camp as internally-displaced persons in their father land feel the same way the Israelites felt; about going back to their roots. Their lamentations were quite touching.
  Hear them: "Please, for the sake of Almighty God, return us to our homes. How long shall we remain outside our homes? How long shall we continue to live on relief materials? How long shall we live on donated food items? How long shall we live with this trauma? Many unanswered questions. The lamentations were couched in a song sang by the young ones at the camp during an event to mark their one year in the IDPs' camp in Jos.
  Naturally, the IDPs feel abandoned by the Federal Government after their displacement from their ancestral homes by Boko Haram insurgents. They have spent over one year in the camp with no hope of leaving the camp or returning to their homes. They desired to go back home, but they have none anymore.
  To commemorate one year of establishing the camp, the Stefanos Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), had organised an event at the camp. The IDPs, who have been in the camp for over a year, sang songs to express their pains, feelings; expectations and frustrations.
  They have been crying out and had made several appeals to government to better their lives. They only attention they received from government, according to them, were relief materials. But they said they are tired of living on relief materials; they want government to help them in rebuilding their homes to enable them to return to their ancestral land and start life afresh.
  Leader of the IDPs camp at Zang Commercial College Jos, Zakka Ali who is also the Chairman of Gwoza Christian Community said: "We escaped from death and ran to this camp for refuge one year ago. We spent the Christmas in this camp last year and another Christmas is here.
  "We don't want to spend this year's Christmas here. But we have no home where we will spend the Christmas. Our homes were razed down by Boko Haram insurgents and government never cared to help us find alternative shelter.
  "There are no fewer than 276,312 Christians from Gwoza who were displaced as a result of insurgency. All of us are scattered; families disconnected. Some ran to Cameroon, some ran to Jos and other parts of Nigeria.
  "We need government's intervention to return home as quickly as possible. We know President Muhammadu Buhari is a father of all Nigerians. We are appealing to him to help us get out of the camp; we are tired of staying here."
  Programme Coordinator of Stefanos Foundation, the NGO who provided the camp, Mr. Mark Lipdo said: "The NGO opened this camp on November 1, last year, as a temporary shelter for the IDPs. We have kept 479 families in the camp for over a year.
  "However, some of them had returned home; leaving at least 94 families in the camp. This comprises 466 people, including 38 males, 88 females and 340 children. "My NGO only thought of providing them a temporary camp, expecting government to take them over. But one year after, government has not come to their aids in that regard. They now feel abandoned by their own government. The NGO can only provide a little care.
  In a remark, the President, Plateau State Council of Chiefs, the Gbong Gwom Jos, His Royal Majesty, Da Jacop Gyang Buba praised Stefanos Foundation for taking the burden of caring for the IDPs for over a year.
  He said: "The issue of IDPs is one of the greatest challenges posed by the insecurity in the Northeast. It is commendable that the Federal Government has succeeded in rooting Boko Haram from the zone and plans are on by the Federal Government to reconstruct the areas destroyed by Boko Haram. I, therefore, call on the Federal Government not to forget the IDPs in Jos in the overall plan for the Northeast."
  Guest Speaker on the occasion, Prof. Nnamdi Aduba of the University of Jos said: "Every citizen of Nigeria has the right to adequate standard of living and equal access to essential food, potable water, shelter, appropriate clothing and essential medical services, among other things."
  Speaking on the topic "Good Governance and Humanitarian Crisis: A Case Study of Northern Nigeria," he emphasised that the good governance index of Nigeria since the return to democracy in 1999, has been very dismal and discouraging."