Former Director General of Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Alhaji Grima Terab has stated that the internally displaced persons in Northeast have turned to money spinning business for government officials and some elements in the zone.
In an exclusive interaction with DAILY POST in Abuja, he said it was unfortunate that internally displaced persons were starved and were passing through health challenges despite huge funds being committed to their plight.
He stressed that international donor agencies and wealthy individuals had been spending much on the IDPs, but regretted that there was no much impact.
“International donor agencies, individuals like Bill Gates, Ford, even our own Dangote has so far spent over one billion on IDPs, yet there is no improvement”, he said.
He was emphatic that the situation had been hijacked by government officials at the state and federal levels.
He added that Borno State government was involved in diversion of state funds in the guise of IDPs, stressing that the state which got N7 billion monthly had nothing to show.
“Borno State government collects N7 billion monthly; the state is the 10th highest among other states and I tell you we have got over 800 billion in the last six years”, he said.
“What is happening now is that they would shut the press from having access to IDPs, so that they can continue to manipulate people and in that case, they cannot interact with IDPs directly. It’s only international media that keep reporting IDPs humanitarian crises”, he added.
He called on the Senate to investigate funds committed to the plight of the victims so far.
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