THE Akwa Ibom State government has evacuated, at least, 34 of its indigenes stranded in Katsina due to the rising spate of insecurity in the northern region.
This was disclosed by the state’s Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Ini Adiakpan, who spoke with journalists in Uyo, the state capital, on Sunday.
“The attention of the state government was drawn to a viral video on social media where some displaced Akwa Ibom indigenes in Katsina State, were calling for help, because their houses, shops and other sources of livelihood were either vandalised or burnt by bandits.
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“The state government immediately ordered for their evacuation and safe return to the state,” Adiakpan said.
The Commissioner also noted that the government had made a provision for relief materials and put plans in place to reunite the returnees with their families.
President of the Akwa Ibom community in Katsina, Effiom Williams, also speaking with journalists, said the returnees had lost their homes and livelihoods to terrorism in the state.
Williams said he had taken many of the survivors into his home in Katsina before efforts to evacuate them from the state were made.
“When some of them arrived, they had nothing left because they had lost everything to the crises, so the community had to raise money in order to get them clothes and other effects.
“We later reached out to the state government for assistance. We are very happy that the Governor has intervened,” he said.
Residents of Katsina State have suffered from activities of terrorists in the northern region of Nigeria.
In February, a village head was killed in a terror attack on residents of the Jibia Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
Five other people died in the attack, with five others abducted during the attack.
A Divisional Police Officer had also been killed in a gun battle with terrorists in the state.
Ijeoma Opara is a journalist with The ICIR. Reach her via vopara@icirnigeria.org or @ije_le on Twitter.
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