Senate Says Unsustainable To Spend N5b Monthly On IDPs In Northeast

Senate plenary

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Special Duties, Senator Yusuf A. Yusuf, has said that the federal government is expending N5 billion monthly on the welfare of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the northeast.

Senator Yusuf disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Abuja on his committee’s findings after an oversight visit to various IDP camps in the northeast.

The lawmaker said the government must stop “IDP syndrome”, noting that there was no resources to sustain spending such huge amount on the IDPs.

He therefore charged the security agencies to do more in ensuring that the insurgency come to an end, so that people could return to their various towns and villages safely.

“It is a very sad thing that I have seen in the IDP camps. There are 2.7 million people in the IDP camps. No amount of resources that can sustain or take care of their palliatives.

“We cannot continue to believe that the IDP syndrome should continue. We must exit it at one time or the other. It is a sad thing.

“There are children who are orphans in all respect and most of them are below the age of 18.

“The government, the development partners are doing their best but the resources are very small.

“We cannot sustain spending about 5 billion Naira a month to take care of these people.

“What we will do is to put our hands on deck and make sure that security is provided for them to go back to their homes, so that we can reduce the mounting pressure on our resources to take care of the IDPs.”

On the new electricity tarrif and fuel price, Senator Yusuf said the value of Naira vis-a-vis the dollar contributed significantly to hikes.

“The dollar price of our imported products has not changed much. What has changed much is the value of the Naira vis-a-vis the dollar. Until we get the realistic value of our currency, we may not be able to sort out this problem,” he said.