Gov Alia Solicits UN’s Support For IDPs, Insecurity

Benue State Governor, Rev Fr. Hyacinth Alia, has solicited the support of the United Nations, to enable his administration fight insecurity in the state and to also resettle Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) back to their ancestral homes.

The governor made the request at the Government House, Makurdi, when he hosted the UN delegation led by its Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Mathias Schmale.

Governor Alia, while appreciating the United Nations for its efforts at resolving conflicts across the world through peaceful means said, insecurity remains a threat to the government and people of Benue state, with a call on the Organization to intervene through the provision of early warning signals and preventive measures that will aide the government in that regard.

While reiterating his administration’s determination to soon resettle the internally displaced persons back to their ancestral homes, the governor said, already, SEMA has been directed to put in place a resettlement plan that will be submitted to the UN too for support.

The governor further rrequested the UN to make Benue State its hub, calling for more support from the Organization in the areas of healthcare delivery and training of medical personnel, provision of modern agricultural inputs and machineries to enable Benue return on the map as the food basket of the nation, as well as the empowerment of women in the state with relevant skills that will enable them become self reliant.

Earlier in his speech, the leader of the delegation and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Mathias Schmale, said they were in the state to partner with the government, to enable it achieve more for the people of the state.

He charged the government to outline its development agenda for the United Nations to intervene, stating that since the organization is good at conflict resolutions, it can equally trace the root causes of the herder/farmer clashes and bring about lasting solutions, as well as provide immediate humanitarian needs for the IDPs, while also looking at ways of returning them to their ancestral homes.

Mr. Schmale equally urged the people of Benue State, whom he said, have high expectations on governor Alia for a quick turnaround, to give the governor more time, emphasizing that the governor is not a supernatural being after all.

Highlights of the occasion was the presentation of the policy document of the Alia led administration to the UN delegation and the decoration of the governor by the UN team.