Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, has assured the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at a camp in Uhogua, Benin City, that Edo is home to all, and that the state government will take care of their needs while they remain in the camp.
Speaking during his on-the-spot assessment of facilities and the condition of the inhabitants of the camp, in company with his wife, Iara, some senior government officials, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Damilola Adegbuyi and the State Director of State Security, Mr. Alexander Okeiyi, yesterday, the governor stated. “Nigeria is one, it doesn’t matter whether you are from Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Kano, Jigawa, Edo, Lagos or Jigawa, we are all one Nigeria. I lived in the North all my adult life and that is why I understand the Hausa language. We will ensure you get all that you need. These are our children now and I can see that they come from different parts of the country and they are very young children.
“We will immediately bring 500 bags of rice and 5 cows and ensure that doctors and nurses are deployed to be taking care of them and will help them to develop the school, give them qualified teachers.
“We have to do everything to ensure that they are comfortable and we have discussed with the security agencies, they will ensure that adequate security is provided to protect these children and those whose parents have been identified, we will arrange, at the expense of Edo State Government, for the parents to come here and pay them a visit so that they can reunite with their children. They can still leave them in the camp if they so wish but at least they will be assured that their children are in good hands.
“If you have any challenge, let us know. I have assigned seven very senior officers; two commissioners and five directors, who will be around to ensure that the kids are safe.
“I have also discussed with and asked the commissioner for education to straightaway start to build schools for the children. I know you already have what you call school, but you know in Edo State we have standard and because Edo is one, we are particularly keen in ensuring that no child is denied quality education. It doesn’t matter that they are here because of some certain crisis in some parts of the country but once they are in Edo State they have become part of the Edo Community and are entitled to all the privileges.
“So, we are going to rebuild the school, furnish it and post qualified government teachers here. I think the recent issue was a communication gap.”