Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State has solicited for more support from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who suffered from the incessant attacks in Mangu Local Government Area of the state.
He made the call recently when he visited the headquarters of the agency to seek for its swift intervention whenever the state was engulfed in a humanitarian crisis.
The governor said ,”Before I even came into office,I know that NEMA had always extended its goodwill to us when there was a storm in Mangu. Also , with the recent development that bothers on security, we also received the goodwill of NEMA and it has gone a long way in addressing some of the fallout of the security challenges”.
According to him,at the last count, they had Internally Displaced People (IDPs), in about 13 different locations. He described it as unfortunate stressing that part of the visit was to brief heads of security agencies on the true situation on the Plateau and to harvest their goodwill to ensuring that the challenge was brought to an end.
” Plateau is a multi- lingual state, it is multi -religious state and we have always lived in peace with one another. But in the last two to three months, there was a dimension in which it was taken. There are places which hitherto were quite peaceful and one of the places is my own local government area, Mangu. Before now, it was one of the most peaceful and safest places but now, it has come under serious siege” . Mutfwang stressed.
The governor lamented that some vested interests find a way of bringing mercenaries from outside who have attacked those communities and their houses have been destroyed and properties vandalized.
” Few of the communities which have managed to still farm, these insurgents come in the night and cut the maize which has already grown and if you can farm in Mangu for example, it makes a significant contribution to food security in Nigeria”, he added.
The Director -General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed thanked the governor for the visit and assured that NEMA would do everything possible to assist the victims.
