Katsina Govt. spends N58m on IDPs, disaster victims, says SEMA boss

The Katsina State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), has spent N58 million on provision of relief materials to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), and other disaster victims in the last two years.

Aminu Waziri, the executive director of the agency, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Daura on Thursday.

He said the amount was spent in the last two years and out of which N30m was spent to purchase relief materials that included foodstuff, mattresses, clothing, sanitary materials and drugs.

Waziri told NAN that within the period, N21.8m was expended on rehabilitation of the state-owned IDPs camp located in Katsina metropolis, while N6m was spent on fire and flood victims.

He said there were 4, 275 internally displaced persons in Katsina State spread across eight Local Government Areas of Katsina, Rimi, Batagarawa, Baure, Daura, Chiranchi, Kafir and Ingawa.

Waziri said the agency would commence training and retraining of staff on handling emergency situations and would also recruit additional staff for effective and efficient performance.

He said the agency received material support from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation.

The executive director lauded the efforts of Governor Bello Masari on prompt action to emergency situations.

He said: “our governor releases money for our activities and ensures that due processes were adhered to in so doing.

He warned IDPs against diversion of relief materials given to them, stressing that relief materials should be judiciously utilised and for convenience of the beneficiaries.