Ramadan – the holiest month of the Muslim calendar and which begins this evening (April 2) – is going to be very tough for many internally displaced persons who are living in poverty in the northeastern Nigerian communities of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.
RNI reporters visited some of the IDP camps and found that most of the residents had not been able to prepare properly for Ramadan, which ends on the evening of Monday, May 2.
Falmata Tijjani Bukar went to the Tandari IDP Camp in Maiduguri.
Yagana Mai Bura, an IDP originally from Marte, said: “We have spent more than seven years in this camp. We used to be able to prepare for Ramadan, buying food, cleaning and shopping. But this Ramadan we have no means to prepare for the holy month. We have only a little, which might not be enough to last the whole month. Our husbands used to have work but now they don’t. We are going to suffer, that’s for sure.”
Hajja Bukar from Boboshe Camp, who is also originally from Marte, said: “When we were still living in our ancestral community we had sufficient provisions because we women also earned an income and we never had to ask for help from local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) or from the government. We had sufficient.”
Zara Modu, from Damboa, told Fanna Bukar that before becoming an IDP, they were living a good life with more than enough food. “We were farmers so we had a lot to eat and we sold a lot of our harvest. We had money then. Now we have to depend on NGOs, such as the World Food Programme [WFP], which gives us beans and grains. It is upsetting how badly the insurgency has affected us. We can no longer farm and we – and all the others in the whole camp – face many hardships.”
Ba Modu told RNI that the WFP used to provide help to the IDPs. “The WFP used to provide oil, beans and grains, but they are no longer doing so and we receive no food assistance. Before, there were many NGOs that used to provide us with food in the camp. We can’t even sell firewood as we used to. People don’t have food to cook and so do not need the wood. Also, if we go looking for firewood, we face being attacked by insurgents who hide in the bushes.”
IDPs in Dikwa told Rawa Bukar Tela that they desperately needed assistance from the government and NGOs.
Ya Mafa Bukar said: “We are living in difficult times. We even dug up ant holes to get food but now they are empty. We have not been able to prepare for Ramadan because we do not have anything. We can’t even feed our children or ourselves. We are desperate for assistance from the NGOs and the government. If we don’t get help we will die of hunger.”
Sheriff Bura spoke to IDPs in Yobe State.
Bulama Tijjani, an IDP in Talala Village, said: “I have spent eight years here but there is still no news about returning to our village and every day things are getting worse. I have no naira with me and things are getting more and more expensive. Commodity prices just keep increasing every day. Sugar now costs ₦1,600, groundnut ₦1,700, rice ₦1,300 and the price of oil has also been hiked. Our situation is desperate and we have no one to help us.”
Mele Bukar said he had prepared for Ramadan as best as could. But he did not know if it would last the whole of the holy month. “I have done what I can but I don’t know if that’s going to be enough.”
RNI reporter Umar Bukar Gaji visited Fufore IDP camp in Adamawa State and found that the residents had not received any aid from the government or the NGOs.
Modu Abba Gono said: “We have spent seven years in this camp and no organisation or authority has ever helped us during this holy month, even though we desperately need assistance.”
He said there were times when authorities had agreed to help them but the aid never reached them because scurrilous individuals had used their names to benefit themselves.
All the IDPs RNI spoke to pleaded with authorities to help them with food, good drinking water and medicines during Ramadan.
Fatima Grema Modu spoke to Abdullahi Isa, an official of Borno State’s Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), who said: “The National Emergency Management Agency [NEMA], SEMA and the WFP were responsible for distributing food packages that included seasonings, oil, vegetables and other cooking requirements to IDPs for the holy month.”
He said the task took place every fasting season.
“As this year’s Ramadan approaches, some IDPs have already returned to their communities and what we did was to follow those resettled and distribute the food packages to them there.”
He said if IDPs were absent when the food packages were being distributed, the packages were taken to other camps, such as Muna Camp, where the number of IDPS had increased substantially. They were also taken to Gubio Camp because the people there also had no food and were starving.
Sadiya Umar Farouq, the minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, said the foodstuffs had been bought. “We are waiting for the government’s approval to commence the distribution to the IDPs.”
AISHA SD JAMAL
