The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas have donated medical services and food items to Internally Displace Persons (IDPs) to mark his birthday and 64th independence anniversary of the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the event which took place on Tuesday at Kabusa village in the Federal Capital Territory was graced by some members of the National Assembly including the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Benjamin Kalu.
Alhaji Tijani Ahmed, the Federal Commissioner National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) was also in attendance
Abbas commended the IDPs for their patient with President Bola Tinubu’s administration, stressing that the key issue affecting the country was poverty.
He assured that the National Assembly would collaborate with some agencies, particularly NEMA and Refugees commission to ensure that the IDPs were well considered in the 2025 budget.
“We will see what we can do, especially to improve the living standards of all the IDPs camps across the country.
“As you know, today is an independence day of our great country which also coincided with my birthday.
“It is just one of so many ways to show you that the House of Representatives is with you.
“Thank you for being patient, supportive to our government, listening to our government and being faithful to our government,” he said.
For his part, Ahmed, said that, apart from providing medical care and food items, the Commission was working out modalities to train some of the IDPs on skills to provide them with durable solutions.
He, however, lamented that the displaced persons were living at the mercy of the host communities.
“Apart from the medical outreach, they will also be provided with food items, at least to alleviate hunger. Also, we will do more than feeding them.
“We will teach them how to catch the fish, it is better than donating food items and even medical items,” he said.
Dr Fatimah Abdullahi, Special Adviser on Health and Stakeholders Management of the Commission underscored the importance of the medical outreach, saying that the IDPs do not have the money to access healthcare.
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Abdullahi noted that most of the healthcare in Nigeria, were out of pocket, adding that the Commission usually visit the IDPs from time to time to ascertain their health needs.
“When we came to this camp, we realised that they have one traditional birth attendant that attends to every birth. Unfortunately, most traditional birth attendants are unskilled, semi-literate or even illiterate”.
“So one of the things that the HFC has committed to is ensuring that a proper medical health facility is placed here so that these women get the best skilled birth attendants,” she said.
Abdullahi assured that the commission would continue to address the plights of displaced persons.
