Kaduna Chronicle

Many of the affected victims have been placed at various ad hoc rehabilitation centers across the state. The Hajj Camp center along Mando road at the outskirts of Kaduna is one of such centers and it harbored quite a number of such victims. The situation of activities there is very impressive considering the organized volunteer services provided by a synergy of various Humanitarian NGOs and individuals ranging from security, health, education, welfare accommodation and feeding to ensure a speedy recovery from their unfortunate spate.

Some NGOs and individuals like the Back to School Educational Initiative, Al-ummah Development Foundation, Corporate Mathematical Foundation, Dr. Bello of Rakiya Memorial Hospital and Dr. Lema Jibrilu deserve a special mention for their proactive and prominent roles in providing Educational, moral and aswell Medical services respectively.

Meanwhile, despite such laudable efforts mostly from the general public, the situation is not without some challenges. For instance the area of feeding, accommodation and rest rooms need to be improved upon due to the large number of displaced persons. Equally there are no adequate teaching aids and medical facilities that will adequately cater for their needs. These are areas where government must directly and promptly need to intervene through its agencies like the SEMA and NEMA, and aswell international donor agencies like the UNICEF.

Equally the government must take responsibilities of providing lump-sum financial aids to such displaced people as virtually all of them lost their properties and some doubled with losing their bread winners during the crises, rather than compensating high profile politicians with millions of tax payers’ money. This is partly because they cannot continue staying in such Displaced Camps for long especially the Hajj Camp where this year’s intending pilgrims will use as their screening and departing base, and as well such people left with nothing other than their lives marred with massive psychological trauma which they will continue to nurse for the rest of their lives. If the families of the deceased corp members were compensated with N5 million each, though not commensurate to their gentle souls, there is no justification not to grant such gestures to the victims of Kaduna State post election violence been the fact they are all Nigerians and deserve equal and fair treatment.