By Hazeez Balogun - Lagos
Many Nigerians from the North-Eastern part of the country have been affected by the Boko Haram invasion. Though there are many camps set up to house some of those affected, there are a large number who are scattered all over the country and left to fend for themselves. According to NGO, SESOR, only 10 percent of displaced people are in the camps and shelters. The remaining has fled to other states.
Some of the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) have actually found their way to Lagos and just a few of them can fend for themselves. The lucky ones are living with their families residing in Lagos. The unlucky ones find themselves in Hausa communities in Lagos and live off charity. Church of the Brethren in Lagos has been able to assimilate some of these IPDs and help them with their basic needs including shelter and food.
Underaged boys who fled to Lagos unassisted
Last Sunday, the SESOR and their partners CEE-Hope decided to help out these IDPs. They delivered food materials, clothing and educational materials to the church, who will in turn distribute to the IDPs in their care. The event saw a large turn-out of IDPs including those that are not under the care of the church. They attended to everyone equally but gave preference to women and children. There were also unattended children who came to Lagos on their own without supervision just to escape the violence.
Relaying their experiences, some of the IDPs barely survived Boko Haram attacks my whiskers. Many of them have lost loved ones as well. Fatima, a lady in the church described her ordeal. According to her, Boko Haram invaded her town Ngalda in Yobe State. Fatima who was heavily pregnant and selling fruits in the market at the time had to run home when she heard that Boko Haram were around. When she got home, she found that they had butchered her husband and she could not find her son.
Some neighbours who had fled during the attack came back to rescue whatever they can from their houses. One of them told Fatima that her 4 years old son was taken away by the invaders. They gave her some money and advised that she escape to neighboring states. Fatima did not leave but stayed to look for her son. A week later, the Boko Haram members returned to the town and killed all the remaining people and burnt their houses. One of them had pity on her because she was pregnant and allowed her to go scot-free. She then fled to Kano, and then got a bus to Lagos where she was taken in by the church.
Another sad story is that of 12-year old Aliu, who had to flee Bama in Maiduguri to save his life. According to him, the Boko Haram insurgents sacked his whole town in just two days and all his family had to escape. He lost a brother to the killings and his mother who is already a widow, had to make a drastic decision. She had just enough money for one person to flee to Lagos where her eldest son lived, but John was too young to travel by himself. He finally had to allow Aliu travel to Lagos while she risked being killed.
According to Aliu, his money was stolen from him on the way and he had to hang on to moving trucks till he got to Lagos after five days of travelling. During the five days, he ate very little and was not able to clean himself or take a bath. Even when he got to Lagos, his brother’s phone number had been stolen. He had to call his mother, who took days to get the correct number. It was then Aliu got in contact with his brother who is an Okada rider in Apapa.
Ier Jonathan Ichaver, the Executive Director at SESOR explained that, they are touched by the stories they hear and they are doing their best to help as many people as possible. She says, “A lot of people who flee Boko Haram to Lagos are in Churches and with friends and families. We connected with this particular church at the first anniversary of the Chibok girls kidnap. We heard one of their elders saying that they are housing some IDPs in Lagos. We contacted them and we found that they have been assisting these IDPs. We decided to do our own part. Today, we are giving out some materials that we hope will help them survive. We have sleeping materials, blankets, food and even books and toys for the children. Many people also donated clothing and shoes.”
Ier also went ahead to highlight the aim of SESOR. “We support survivors of emergencies and emergencies that can cause large displacements. It could be conflicts like we have with Boko Haram, or ethnic conflicts like the farmer–herder conflict. We also support those who fall victims to natural disasters like flood and drought. We also put out things to help people prepare for emergencies. For example, we created a Fuel Subsidy Survival Guide which we distributed during the fuel scarcity.”
Mike Tarfa, the elder in charge of the IDPs explained why the Church is interested in helping out the IDPs. He explains that the Church of the Brethren or EYN as it is also known, is a North Eastern Church and the people who are mostly affected by Boko Haram are also from the North East, so the church took it upon itself to help out members, and their families affected. They later moved on the assist anyone affected by the violence even if they were not church members. “For most of the IDPs, the church is usually their first port of call when they get to Lagos. Some of them had families already in Lagos, while we had to house the others. We are happy that some bodies have been supporting us. One of them is SESOR, You can see all the materials they brought in,” Mike said.
At the event were over 200 IDPs most of them women and children. Also supporting the course was Betty Abah of CEE-Hope, Tee- A, the comedian, Pastor Reverend Anthony Ndamsai, and Mrs Tarfa. SESOR promised that such event will be a continuous effort, and they will try to reach other IDPs in other parts of the country as well.
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