Life is difficult for us— 800,000 residents land in 11 IDP camps after Mangu attack

From the gate of the Pilot Primary School, Bungha, Mangu local government area of Plateau State, which houses hundreds of displaced persons fleeing attacked communities in the LGA, the voices of the people are heard like that of the crowd at a weekly village market.

Stepping into the premises, people of all ages, from the very young to the elderly, are seen milling around the camp.

While some are seated listlessly in groups bemoaning their lot, some young boys were seen playing football in the school playground. They are a collection of different communities sacked by armed people in the last two months.

A peep into the classrooms, now turned to bedrooms, one can feel the dampness of the overcrowded rooms with some unpleasant smell.

Although the survivors have bitter stories to tell about how they cheated death and escaped to the camp, they are also grateful that they are alive and seek help to return to their homes.

Narrating his ordeal, Josiah Shangtong, from Adep community said, “The day this thing happened, eight of us were in the farm in the morning and we saw some Fulani herders walking past us with their cows and waited ahead to spy on us.

“Not quite long, another batch of Fulani came along shooting sporadically and we left what we were doing and ran towards Kombili, a nearby community.

“On getting to Kombili, we saw houses burning and people running for safety too.

“As we were running along the road, we met some of our Fulani neighbours by the road. We asked them why we were being chased from our homes, they said they did not know and advised that we should just run for our lives. “Some of the Fulani that we know left the village before the incident and some were with those ones that we did not know their faces.

“As we speak, they have destroyed our farms that we cultivated before the attack. Even yesterday (Tuesday July, 11), the destruction of farmlands still continued. How we managed to escape is still a miracle to us.

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“We lost everything and only escaped with the farm clothes we were wearing but we are grateful to be alive.

“I spent two days in the bush before I reached Mangu town. We were eight in the farm but right now, I don’t know where the others are. I am only here with one of my children, my wife is somewhere with the other three.”

Evelyn Lucius, another survivor, stated, “I am from Kantoma. We left early in the morning before the Fulani attack because some Fulani in our community told our neighbour to leave the community and our neighbour told us so we left before the attackers came.

“We were just running until we arrived here, our community people told us that the attackers came around 4 pm when rain was falling.

“The Fulani that told our neighbour had already relocated his family out of the community before he told our neighbour who told us to leave.

“In this camp, life is difficult for us. I am newly wedded and I don’t have any children yet, for the two of us, we are managing but families that are here with children are suffering.

“We lost everything, we need food, what is shared here is barely enough, we need blankets, sanitary towels for the girls and women.

“We appreciate every help but the best help will be to go back to our homes and continue with our lives. That can only be possible if there is security.”

Kwarpo Mark, from Kyampus community, added, “We heard that efforts are being made so that we can go back home. We are desperate to return home because there is no way to live in a camp.

“On the night of Monday, July 10, I tried going to the village and on the way, I saw some cows destroying my farm, the corn was almost due for harvest but everything was destroyed, that is my investment.

“These attacks are political, religious, economic. I don’t understand why it is people of a particular religion that were attacked when we have people of other religions going about their businesses destroying the livelihood of others.”

Meanwhile, the Transition Committee Chairman of Mangu local government area, Mr. Markus Artu, says the LGA has about 80, 000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 11 camps and called for more collaborative efforts from stakeholders to secure the communities so the people could return to their ancestral homes and businesses.

Artu spoke at the Bungha camp when the Christian Rural and Urban Development Association of Nigeria, CRUDAN, in partnership with Tearfund and support from Start Fund, provided non-food items worth millions of naira to the IDPs.

He stated, “It is heartwarming when you see organisations like CRUDAN and others coming in here with some form of relief.

“It brings some succour but, beyond that, government is working with security agencies to see how fast normalcy can return to the villages so that these people can go back to their homes.

“Government can’t do it alone; that is why we are appealing to public spirited individuals, donor agencies, and international organisations to further the efforts to see that their plights are addressed. We have an estimated 80, 000 IDPs across 11 different camps in the local government area.”

Ikponmwosa Omoigiade of Tearfund and Tulari Tine of CRUDAN explained why their organisations intervened.

Omoigiade said, “We are here to provide some relief materials to those affected by the recent crisis in Mangu, they are taking refuge here in a school having been displaced from their homes. We took it upon ourselves with support from Start Fund and our partner, CRUDAN to see how we can provide some support.”

Tine, on his part, said, “We are here to provide relief for people affected by the crisis. We are targeting 2,711 households and, for each, we are providing blankets, foam mats, toiletries, dignity kits for the women, etc.

“This project is holistic. Apart from the non-food items, we are also sensitising on gender-based violence to curb other incidences that arise when people are displaced.

“We are also having trauma counseling and healing; we have trained people in the camps who are expected to also provide trauma healing for affected people. We are in three camps in Mangu, Kasuwan Ali, and Gindiri.”

The Financial Secretary of Mwaghavul Development Association, MDA, and Camps’ Coordinator for the different IDP camps, Enoch Gumesh, told Sunday Vanguard, “We have camps in Mangu, Pankshin and Fan in Barkin Ladi local government areas.

“In this camp in Pilot Primary School, Mangu, we have over 252 people sleeping here but thousands of the refugees are staying outside with relatives and so on but they don’t have any means to feed, so they come in here to eat whatever is being provided.

“It has been the MDA that has been providing food through the assistance of organisations like the ones we have today, Tearfund, Start fund, CRUDAN, and other church organisations, groups and individuals that have been visiting us with foodstuff, clothing, and so on.

“NEMA came here once with foodstuff which we have distributed. We call for intervention from government because we have difficulties in feeding these people who have lost everything and their houses destroyed.

“We have more than 54 communities that have been razed. The people only escaped with their lives and the clothes they wore.

“We need serious assistance from government in terms of shelter, food, clothing, and bedding. If government can provide security for the people to return home and farm, it will be of immense help because the farming season is almost over.

“If they don’t go back and salvage what they can, although most of the crops have been destroyed by herdsmen, these camps would last for the next five to 10 years.

“Another urgent need in the camps is water for sanitation and medical care.

“If you go to the rooms there, you will see many children lying down sick with fever, malaria, and others.

“We need medical attention. The hygiene condition here is not okay and this is the season for mosquito, we need mosquito nets and anti-malaria drugs.”