By Peter Duru, Makurdi 

The Benue State Government is going into partnership with Fortress360, a social enterprise organisation and the Justice Development and Peace Caritas Initiative, JDPCI, to provide needed humanitarian support and interventions for Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in the state. 

Speaking at the tripartite meeting held weekend in Makurdi, which also had in attendance Heads of relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the government, the Director General, Benue State Bureau for International Corporation and Development, BICD, Dr. Leo-Angelo Viashima said the collaboration would be a significant achievement for the state government. 

He said the new partnership was a testament to Governor Hyacinth Alia’s unique leadership in the last two years that “has shown clearly that Benue state is open for business, both for capital and social investments, and we have seen the influx of lots of Non Governmental Organisations, NGOs, and to the glory of God today we have seen the influx of another NGO, the JDPCI which is expanding its operations across Nigeria. 

“They have also come into Benue to support, particularly responding to the Yelewata crisis and also other incidences that have happened around the state. 

“They are here first for a scoping visiting and hopefully they will be settling in after the studies, to provide skill acquisition to IDPs and also strengthening the Benue State Emergency Management Agency, BSEMA, Benue State Rehabilitation Board and also the issue of Women Affairs as it were, and partnering with the Benue State Bureau for Wealth Creation and Entrepreneurship,” he said. 

The Director General also noted the relationship the government was going into with Fortress360 saying “Fortress360 is going to be operating more like a scout for us at BICD and helping us to point to where funding opportunities are and also supporting us in writing proposal for the state and providing technical support for BICD to be able to support the state to grow in all areas as it were. 

“So today is one of those dreams that we have that will help us achieve Governor Hyacinth Alia’s policies and we are very proud of what is happening.” 

The Executive Director of Fortress360, Dr. Paul Nyulaku described the organisation as a social enterprise company, focused on building partnerships with governments, providing training institution strengthening, advisory services, particularly in the area of humanitarian peace development nexus as well as providing support to IDPs and special needs group like women and children. 

“So this meeting is an initial discussion we are having that leads us to a point we will sign a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, with the Benue State Bureau for International Corporation and Development. 

“We will be carrying out assessments in the next couple of days particularly beginning from today to understand the needs of the different groups, understand their skills, understand the local economies and see how we provide support. 

“We are also here with our partners, the JDPCI from the Archdiocese of Abuja, they will be speaking to us as well in terms of the skills they will be providing, 

“On our part this is the beginning of an exciting journey, the beginning of public-private partnership. We will see how we mobilize resources to support some of these priorities, we will’ll continue the engagement and see that we are all better for it. So Fortress360 is excited for this partnership with Benue state government through the BICD,” he said. 

On his part, the Executive Director of JDPCI, Rev. Fr. Sebastian Sanni, explained that as a social arm of the Catholic Church his delegation was happy to be in the state to render support in various ways to assist and help improve the livelihood of the persons of concern in the state. 

“We have had conversations, closed door meeting with the Director General of BICD to see how we can carry out needs assessment here in Benue state and see how we can provide livelihood support and psycho spiritual support also. 

“We want to see how we can empower those in the IDP camps with skills that will lead to sustainable livelihood. And we are here to provide that humanitarian work, not only that, but to reflect the compassion and love of our Lord Jesus Christ and we are happy and glad for this strategic partnership and collaboration,” he added. 

Representatives of the various MDAs at the meeting commended the Governor Alia-led administration for going into partnerships that would positively impact the lives of the people pledging to give total support to the initiative to enable it achieve desired results.