The Inernally Displaced Persons from Borno state taking refuge in Bauchi have decried non availability of hospital, school and access road in their settlement at Rindiben village of Bauchi local government years after their migration to the place.
Head of the settlement, Malam Bulama Gujja while responding to journalists during a tour to the settlement by a Non Governmental Organization in the state known as ‘Fahimta Women And Youth Development Initiative’ (FAWOYDI) said the non availability of those amenities make life uncomfortable for the settlers.
According to him, they were displaced by insurgents from their communities in Borno state where they had occupations to cater for selves and families but were forced to come to the new settlement in Bauchi for fear of the terrorists.
He said they now engaged in peasant farming ‘to keep body and soul together’ calling on the state government to provide them with amenities to enable them live more comfortably.
” We live peacefully here only that our children do not go to school due to absence of any and we don’t have a hospital to attend to our sick people. If we must take our sick people to hospital, we have to go all the way to inkil in the state capital.
“You have to pay a motorcyclist N500 to take you to the hospital and many of our people cannot afford that”. He lamented.
While appreciating FAWOYDI, ActionAid for donating consumable and non consumable items to them in recent time, the former speaker house of representatives Yakubu Dogara for providing water boreholes to them, SEMA, NEMA for providing relief materials and philanthropists Hajiya Hamra Imam and Hajiya Samira Galadima for building a mosque and wells, Gujja said the provision of hospital, school and access road are very essential.
Also responding, another internally displaced woman Hadiza Bulama revealed that pregnant women give birth in the hands of traditional birth attendants among them due to lack of maternity clinic in the area.
Earlier, the program officer of FAWOYDI Mr Tosin Zuberu told the internally displaced persons that the NGO was on a tour to the place to see their situation with a view to linking them up with relevant government ministries, departments and agencies that could bring succour.
