MD, FHA decries sanitary and living conditions at IDP camps

The Managing Director of Federal Housing Authority (FHA), Prof. Mohammed Al-Amin, has decried the sanitary and living conditions in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Maiduguri.

He described the conditions at the camps in the Borno State capital as deplorable and unhealthy.

Al-Amin, who slept in one of the camps as part of activities marking the just-commemorated World Habitat Day, said the living conditions of the IDPs were below the internationally recognized living conditions for such camps.

The Federal Housing Authority official lamented that facilities at the camps were presently overstretched.

“No agency of government should be blamed for this as the war as dragged for too long and there was no adequate budgetary allocation to take care of the IDPs.”

He said the over 500 000 displaced persons in the state needed to be rehabilitated psychologically and mentally.

The Boko Haram crisis has displaced more than 2 million people over the years.

“We will continue to mobilize both human and capital resources for the rehabilitation, resettlement and reconstruction of all the destroyed communities in the North East,” he assured.

He said the formation of cluster communities in the affected towns and villages in the sub-region could enable the FHA in collaboration with other donor agencies and stakeholders to expand the housing chain at such camps.

Al-Amin noted that governments at all levels had moral responsibilities of improving the living conditions of IDPs through the provision of adequate shelter in their localities.

“There must be total provision of shelter for everyone, whether the people live in rural or urban centres of the country,” he said.