By Peter Duru, Makurdi

The retired Gen. Theophilus Danjuma’s Victims Support Fund, VSF, has donated wheelchairs, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and food items to victims of herdsmen attacks in Nzaav, Kendev, Moor, Mbamar and Jato-Aka communities in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue state.

The intervention marked the fourth round in the distribution of relief materials to persons affected by herdsmen crisis in that part of the state.

Presenting the food items which included garri, rice, soyabeans, vegetable oil, salt, palm oil among others to the victims in Jato-Aka, the Chairperson, VSF Benue State Emergency Support Programme, Mrs. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji lamented that 21 out of the 23 LGAs of the State had come under such attacks, “making farming activities difficult for the people in an agrarian state like Benue thereby making life difficult for the people hence the intervention of VSF.

She lamented that Kwande LGA which sits in-between Nigeria and Cameroon had witnessed several herdsmen crisis that left the people devastated and poorer.

“So we are here for the 4th month of the VSF Benue State Emergency Programme which has been on since March, 2022 as VSF response mechanism to supporting IDPs across Benue State.”

Lamenting the impact of the inability of farmers to produce food for local consumption, as a result of the lingering herdsmen crisis, Mrs. Akerele-Ogunsiji said, “Nigeria is grappling with an inflation rate of over 20%, and food inflation is over 14% because major communities of Benue, Taraba and other parts of the North where farming is their mainstay are unable to farm. So, food is scarce and a few people who have access to these food items are hoarding them and selling at higher prices given that it is not fully available as it used to be.”

While assuring that the VSF would continue to provide support for the vulnerable, the Chairperson announced that the organization would in no distant time flag-off her Waterworks in Naka, Gwer West LGA of state while the construction of shelters in Ortese IDPs camp in Guma LGA would be flagged-off in a couple of days.

She also promised that the fund would in no time launch an economic empowerment programme to take care of the LGAs that were not receiving food items from the intervention assuring the the beneficiaries would be different from those who had been benefiting from previous distributions.

The Chairperson explained that while VSF provides all the food items and medical equipment to support the IDPs, the State Government’s contribution was to provide partnership in terms of framework for effective implementation of the intervention.

She appealed to other humanitarian organisations to emulate what VSF was doing in the state by intervening to provide succor to the people who she said are in dire need of support and assistance.

At the Jato-Aka Primary Healthcare Centre where the organization donated wheelchairs, medical equipment and drugs, the Officer In Charge of the facility, Mercy Kõsu, who received the items thanked VSF for the intervention and assured that they would be put to good use.

A beneficiaries of the food intervention and mother of 10 and nine grand children from Nzaav community, Mrs. Mbateren Aluga, who lauded the organization for the support said, “this is the third time I am receiving food items from VSF and it is helping me a lot because I have been finding it very difficult to cope with my 19 children since armed herdsmen burnt our house.”

Another beneficiariy, Atibee Terpine from Nzaav with eight children, said he was displaced by herdsmen 14 years ago “and things have been very tough for us all the years. We thank God for the help that is coming from VSF.”