Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has called for urgent attention to ameliorate the pitiable situation of over 80, 000 children forced out of school in different parts of the state as the world mark this year’s Humanitarian Day.
Ortom appealed to the United Nations, other international bodies and civil society organisations to also use the day to remember the over 500, 000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue state.
Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, on Sunday, the governor described the theme of the 2018 World Humanitarian Day tagged ‘Not a Target’ as very significant.
He expressed sadness that the people of his state have become targets of armed herdsmen attacks in gross violation of global conventions on the right to life and human dignity.
He said that hundreds of lives have been lost, homes, schools, churches and health centres destroyed with over 180,000 people in eight IDP camps and over 500,000 displaced people either living with relatives or in uncompleted buildings across several local government areas in the state.
"Out of the number of those in the camps, 80,000 have been children forced out of school with over 2,000 pregnant women and 2,766 nursing mothers," he said.
The governor who appreciated humanitarian groups such as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), civil society organisations and the media for their interventions in bringing succour to the IDPs, also commended the Nigerian military for the ongoing Operation Whirl Stroke in which some soldiers have been casualties.
