The more than one million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue are at risk of being trafficked or recruited for terrorism, the state government said in Makurdi on Wednesday.
Dr Emmanuel Shior, Executive Secretary, Benue State Emergency Management Agency, said this during the distribution of food items to the IDPs.
Shior appealed to the Federal Government to assist the state government, saying “there is need to do a lot more than providing food for them.’’
He said the IDPs stood the risk of being trafficked or recruited by terrorists if they were not returned to their respective communities in good time.
Shior noted that their continued stay in camps made them more vulnerable, adding that they had been in camps for more than three years.
“Their continuous stay in the IDPs has further exposed them or makes them be vulnerable and anything can happen to them. They are even vulnerable to be recruited for terrorists’ activities.
“What we are experiencing here is a colossal humanitarian and developmental crisis as our roads, bridges, markets, churches, schools, and homes have been destroyed,’’ he said
Shior said relief materials would be distributed to the eight official and non-official camps.
