By Winnie Onu, Makurdi
Less than 24 hours after Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, visited Benue State and announced a N1 billion donation to support displaced persons, hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) took to the streets in protest, demanding urgent resettlement and improved living conditions.
The protesters, mainly victims of the June 13 Yelwata attacks in Guma Local Government Area, blocked access roads around the Makurdi-Lafia Highway on Wednesday, citing starvation, poor medical care, and neglect by government authorities.
The demonstrators chanting slogans such as “We want to go back home” and “Our women are losing pregnancies,” expressed frustration over life in the camps, calling on the government to prioritise their return to ancestral homes.
“We are suffering. Our children are starving, and our women are losing their pregnancies due to lack of food and medical care,” said Rebecca Awuse, one of the protesting IDPs.
She added, “We sleep on bare floors, there are no drugs, and not a single health professional attends to us.”
In response, the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) downplayed the claims of hardship, describing the protest as “politically motivated.”
“There is food distribution ongoing in the camps. Some of the protesters are agitated because they expected the First Lady’s donation to be shared as cash, but the funds are for resettlement, not immediate feeding,” SEMA’s Information Officer, Terna Ager said.
Ager added that the delayed distribution of food last week was due to logistics but assured that relief materials were currently being shared across camps.
