Residents of Bayelsa State displaced by the devastating flood have pleaded with the state government after it ordered them to vacate the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in public schools.
The state government had ordered the closure of IDP camps in public schools at the Akenfa, Agudama-Epie, Okutukutu, Edepie, and Owom suburbs of Yenagoa, the state capital, with the start of classes (on Monday).
Some IDPs, who spoke to the media lamented that while the state government took special care of the displaced persons in the two government camps, it neglected the displaced persons in others, particularly those in public schools.
A member of the Civil Liberties Organisation, CLO, in Bayelsa State, Mr David West, said: “Personally, I lived with the IDPs to experience it. Ordinarily, I am opportune to stay somewhere else, but I refused to. I stayed in one of the government’s uncompleted secondary schools. Now, I am still living there with my family.
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Continuing, he said, “the government has refused to come and dislodge us, although they have sent us a message that schools will soon resume; that we have to vacate the place but then, the treatment is not welcoming”. “Throughout the period, I have seen no government official come to that camp, but some individuals came to share with the people. The government officials were busy telling us to go to the two government IDP camps.
One of the IDPs, Miss Helen Biriyedis said, “We are still at the St. Peters Primary School camp in Ovom, Yenagoa. Our home was devastated by flooding, and we are now homeless. Even though my elderly mother, my siblings, and I were informed that classes would start on Monday, we had nowhere to go”.
Story was adapted from Vanguard.
