Esther Oluku
Families of Banki town who were being resettled from Minawao camp in Cameroon have called on the Borno State Government to provide them with adequate toilet facilities to prevent open defecation which may lead to disease outbreak.
This was communicated on the sidelines of the resettlement exercise held in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.
The exercise was led by the Chairman, Bama Reconstruction Committee, Lawan Wakilbe, earlier this week.
One of the returnees, Saleh Usman, while thanking the state government for providing them with access to free accommodation and running water facilities, noted that with the scale of the resettlement, inadequate toilet facilities may lead children to resort to open defecation which may cause an epidemic.
“We are happy with the free accommodation and enough water provided for us but one of our major concerns is that our toilets are almost full and will force children into open defecation which can lead to disease outbreak. We are pleading for intervention.”
Another returnee, Habiba Muhammadu, urged the government to provide their children with access to a worship center and schools to reintegrate them into the educational system.
Wakilbe explained the resettlement is specifically targeted at providing accommodation facilities for the people of Darul Jamal and adjoining communities adding that the state government will address other emerging needs as they arise.
Speaking on the need to give returning children access to education, he said: “They are gradually settled and we are going to provide means of livelihood for them. We are going to provide a new primary school inside the Tijani Banki Memorial Government Day Secondary School, Banki, to address the increasing need for schools while we identify other interventions of a school here.”
Wakilbe, who also inspected 500,000 housing units nearing completion in Mayanti and 1,000 semi-permanent shelters nearing completion at Kumshe, said that plans are underway to resettle persons affected by displacement in both areas.
He noted that farm lands will be accessible as soon as all security concerns are addressed.
“We are grateful that Governor Zulum has fulfilled his promises. We also commend the resilience and support of people of Bama.
“We are happy that Darul Jamal and other adjoining communities have been resettled successfully and very soon, we will resettle Mayanti and Kumshe as construction work have reached advanced level of completion,” he said.