From Makurdi
No fewer than 80 babies were delivered by the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue State in seven months, according to the Executive Secretary, State Emmergency Agency,(SEMA), Dr Emmanuel Shior.
The executive secretary disclosed this known on Friday in Makurdi at the monthly distribution of relief materials to the IDPs,organised by SEMA.
Shior,who said that the deliveries were registered by the agency,noted that most of the IDPs co-habited with their partners, a development he said resulted in the high number of births recorded in the camps.
Shior, who stressed that SEMA was very strict on illicit sexual affairs in the camps, however, expressed concern that the agency found it very difficult to control the rate of births in the camps.
The executive secretary noted that IDPs are human beings, adding that the nature of man has been that in the absence of food,the desire for sex would always be there, pointing out that most of them have their families at the camps.
“The aspect we try to control is unmarried people sleeping with each other; other unlawful sexual acts are also forbidden in the camps,” the SEMA scribe said.
Shior disclosed that the agency would distribute 3,000 bags of rice, 2,000 bags of maize and guinea corn, 1,000 cartons of noodles, bags of garri and beans to all IDPs in Makurdi, Guma, Logo, Agatu, Gwer West, Kwande and Okpokwu camps, among others.
The executive secretary expressed the commitment of the agency in ensuring that IDPs in the state enjoy some level of comfort.