NEMA: 410 Births, 187 Marriages Recorded in IDP Camps

NEMA: 410 Births, 187 Marriages Recorded in IDP Camps
02 12 2015

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Muhammad Sani Sidi
• Ezekwesili laments fate of Chibok girls
Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said that over 410 births were recorded between August and September while 187 marriages were conducted within the same period at the internally displaced persons' (IDP) camps in Borno and Adamawa States.

 The director general (DG) of the agency, Muhammad Sani Sidi, provided the data yesterday when members of Bring Back Our Girls Group (BBOG) paid him a courtesy call in his office in Abuja.

 A statement by NEMA spokesman, Sani Datti, quoted the director general as stating that 100 marriages were conducted in Maiduguri camps alone while 87 were recorded in Adamawa camps.

 He said an emergency education programme for children at the camps became a major priority after unprecedented insurgency attacks on students, teachers and school infrastructure where about 269 teachers lost their lives.

 In its bid to ensure efficient management of camps, the DG said NEMA had trained personnel in camp coordination and camp management (CCCM) and deployed them to manage various IDP camps in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, and to cater to the specialised needs of vulnerable people during emergencies.

 He appealed that the advocacy group should extend their platform to other issues like unaccompanied minors and mass childbirths in the camps, as disaster management is multidisciplinary, multidimensional and multitasking.

 The leader of the group, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, expressed displeasure over the inability of the government to rescue the Chibok girls, saying that yesterday marked the 596th day since they were abducted from their secondary school.
 She said the group was looking up to NEMA for cooperation and mobilisation to protect and care for the vulnerable in the society.

 Similarly, the Chairman of the Bring Back Our Girls Group, Aisha Yesufu, stated that they were at the agency’s office to collaborate in areas of education, IDP living conditions, security, health, and so on, and how their platform could be used to support the efforts of the federal government with the IDPs where the agency deems it necessary.