Ortom draws global attention to IDPs in Benue

As the world commemorates this year’s Humanitarian Day, Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has called on the United Nations, other international communities and civil society organisations as well as the federal government to remember the over two million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state. The governor described as significant, the theme of the 2022 World Humanitarian Day tagged: “It takes a village to raise a child.”

He said that “similarly, it takes a village to support a person in a humanitarian crisis with record-high humanitarian needs around the world, this year’s World Humanitarian Day (WHD) builds on this metaphor of collective endeavour to grow global appreciation of humanitarian work.”

Ortom, who spoke through the Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr. Emmanuel Shior, expressed sadness that the federal government, under President Muhammadu Buhari, has abandoned IDPs in the state who have been displaced by armed Fulani herdsmen, in flagrant violation of global conventions on the right to life and human dignity. He appreciated humanitarian partners and agencies such as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Civil Society Organisations, the Media and other international and local NGOs for their interventions in bringing succour to the Benue IDPs.