Gift items being given to an IDP camp in Yola (file photo)

The Borno State Government on Saturday directed security agencies to investigate alleged diversion of large quantity of rice supplied by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for the feeding of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the state.

Mallam Isa Gusau, the Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy to Gov. Kashim Shettima gave this indication in a statement in Maiduguri.

Gusau explained that the directive followed widespread allegations that some government functionaries were diverting the food supplies meant for the IDPs.

“Gov. Kashim Shettima has directed security agents to investigate and arrest anyone found culpable in the alleged diversion of rice meant for the feeding of the IDPs in the state.

“The directive followed the circulation of video clip and still pictures on the social media alleging some officials of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) re-bagging rice meant for the feeding of the IDPs for onward sales in the market,” he said.

The State government also announced on Saturday that it had resorted to distributing food items to households to tackle alleged poor feeding at IDPs camps in the state.

Mallam Satome Ahmed , Chairman, SEMA who disclosed this in Maiduguri, explained that under this arrangement, households were being supplied cooking utensils and foodstuffs.

“Each household receives a set of cooking utensils like a stove, a pot, plates, cups and other necessary things.

“The household are then given a quantity of foodstuff, like one 50 kg bag of rice, a bag of semovita and other items that will last for a period of time,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that some IDPs had been grumbling over what they called poor feeding arrangement in the camps.

Some of them interviewed by NAN in Maiduguri, had before the new feeding system, expressed dissatisfaction with the feeding arrangement.

Alhaji Modu Bukar, an IDP in Dalori camp, had lamented the poor quality of food being fed displaced persons.

He said that IDPs were being fed twice daily but the quality of the food was appalling.

“Sometimes they serve half cooked rice with groundnut oil and salt for breaking fast,” he alleged, adding that some of the IDPs had stopped eating the food.

However,Hajiya Binta Sheikh, an IDP at the Bakassi camp, said although the feeding arrangement was poor, things started taking shape with the introduction of the household cooking system.

She said that the distribution of cooking materials to IDPs to prepare their meals had helped the situation.

“The introduction of private cooking by the IDPs has solved the problem.

“My family was given a bag of rice, sugar, salt, semovita, and other things to cook and that had helped greatly,” Sheikh said.