The presidency has sent a short-term response to the lack of drugs and food situation which “doctors without borders,” MSF, recently reported had caused the deaths of several children in Borno State’s second largest town, Bama.
The reported malnutrition at the Bama internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp, according to Governor Kashim Shettima, has been largely exaggerated because it has not reached the desperate level as we had in Southern Sudan, in which mothers sometimes had to boil green grass as food which made the situation of their kids worse.
The MSF report, which angered Shettima, alleged that over 200 kids were killed by malnutrition in a month at the camp located in the abandoned general hospital in the centre of the town.
The presidential team which brought the food and drugs items was led by Special Adviser on Social Investment, Hajiya Uwais, who acknowledged the enormity of the challenges they faced and assured them that President Muhammadu Buhari was equally concerned and committed towards addressing their plights.
According to her, “We are here to see for ourselves, the situation on ground and to report back to the president. The Federal Government would continue to lead the efforts towards helping you as well as other internally displaced persons until you are finally resettled back to your communities.”
She said that “this is a crisis situation,” assuring that the Federal Government would work with the state government, international community, local partners and civil society groups to ensure that all the needs of the inhabitants of Bama camp, and several others like it, are speedily met.
