From Our Correspondent
The Federal Government will construct 200 units of low-cost houses for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Benue State, a government official has announced.
Mr Aondowase Kunde, the Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, announced this, on Friday, in Makurdi.
Kunde said the federal government would build the houses in clusters across the eight most devastated local government areas of the state.
He said the state government had held consultation with relevant stakeholders on the implementation of the project.
According to him, the government had met with traditional council, religious leaders and displaced persons, before taking the decision.
Kunde said the IDPs had agreed to return to the cluster houses after the government must have rebuild them.
He added the government would provide schools, hospitals and other social amenities in the clusters.
The state government, the commissioner said, would support the federal government by providing land and other logistic needed for success of the project.
He said the federal government would provide the fund and supervision. But the locals in the affected communities would build the houses themselves.
According to him, the people are already clearing the lands at Tatyoo, Mbagwen, Makurdi Local Government Area, for the construction.
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The commissioner said he received directive to clear in two locations “within 24 hours” for the construction of the first phase of cluster resettlement.
“Altogether, the federal government is building 200 houses for the IDPs in Benue State.
“Traditional rulers have allocated lands in the eight affected LGs for this project. The Tiv Traditional Council has also approved cluster settlements.
“In the nearest future, with our scattered ways of settlements, we may not have land for farming anymore.
“But with cluster settlements, we will continue to have adequate land for our farming activities,” Kunde said.
He commended the federal government for declaring a state of emergency on the humanitarian crises in the state.
“The situation has gone beyond what the state can handle.”
On palliatives, the commissioner said that the state government will distribute the items “to the people in the next two weeks”.
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