COVID-19: Barkin-Ladi LG boss applauds President Buhari for palliatives for IDPs

Barkin-Ladi(Plateau) – Mr Ezekiel Mandyau, Chairman, Management Committee, Barkin-Ladi Local Government in Plateau, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for palliatives to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) following the outbreak of COVID-19.

Mandyau gave the commendation on Tuesday in a chat with newsmen in Barkin-Ladi.

President Buhari on Sunday in a nationwide broadcast ordered that the IDPs will receive two months of food rations in the coming weeks.

“The President’s pronouncement came to us in Barkin-Ladi as a great and cheering news considering the plights our IDPs are in right now.

“”The series of dastardly attacks on several villages and communities in our LGA, displaced over 3,000 innocent people, who were spread across seven different IDPs camps.

“Although, officials of NEMA and SEMA had visited all the camps and had promised to return with some relief materials especially what could assist them rebuild their destroyed houses, we have not seen them yet.

“As a Council, we had went round the IDPs and pleaded with them to return to their destroyed communities to rebuild and restart a new living.

“To our surprise and gladness, shortly before Christmas, they all left the camps and went back to their respective dilapidated communities and villages,” he said.

Mandyau said that the fear of the Council is how the IDPs could cope with the threat of the pandemic, which demands social distancing and prudent hygiene.

“As a Council, we have taken some drastic measures to ensure that the virus doesn’t come around us here so as not to jeopardise the lives of our citizens,” he said. (NAN)
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