General News

See Inside A Boko Haram Refugee Camp In Abuja (See Photos)

July 15, 2015

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The Boko Haram insurgency has taken a toll on the socio cultural and religio-politico lives of almost all Nigerians. In the north east, nothing can ever be the same again. Families have been broken, bread winners killed, entire communities ransacked as the insurgents have imposed their surrogates as satraps.The aborigines of those communities have fled for safety and now find themselves in various refugee camps, now called Internally displaced persons camps all across the country. At the end of the fist half of the year, there are an estimated 2million people living in internal displacement.

Refugees in an IDP Camp in Yola, Adamawa State Most of these camps are spread around Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and other places in the North east where living conditions are horrendous. There are also a few of these camps located within the pristine federal capital, and one- the Gwoza/Bama IDP right in the heart of town, just a stone throw from the Federal Secretariat in Area 1.

ICA was in this camp to see things for himself when Power Forward Africare Project took students of 5 FCT secondary schools there for community work. The Power Forward Africare project is a collaboration between the National Basketball Association (NBA), Africare NGO – a youth empowerment initiative that uses basketball to develop health, leadership and life skills among Nigerian youth.

Officials of Africare Officials of Africare & Power Forward Africare & the Students Secondary school students in FCT The curriculum incorporates leadership training and health awareness through a combination of classroom and athletic activities, with student evaluations at different stages of the initiative. In addition, each school has a coach assigned to oversee the curriculum, guide students through lessons, and monitor progress.

The Power Forward pilot program was launched in 2013 in partnership with the NBA, Africare, ExxonMobil and local school and education officials. The second season of the Power Forward pilot program include basketball games, clinics, life skills seminars and community work which took students from Bicardo, Divine Mercy and three Government secondary schools in Wuse, Garki and Karu to the IDP camp in Durumi.

The initiative provided food, toiletries, mosquito nets to the inhabitants while also engaging in sanitation to keep the surroundings clean. Several displaced persons who spoke to ICA on their condition thanked Africare & Exxon Mobil for coming to their aid. They also hoped civil society will engage more with them and government to bring more succor to their camps, while also pushing government for a quick resolution of the insurgency problem so they can go back to their ancestral homes.