By Musdapha Ilo, Maiduguri

The living and sanitary conditions in Internally Displaced Persons, IDP, camps in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, are unfit for human beings.

So declared the Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority, FHA, Mohammed Al-Amin, who said it was unacceptable that with the trauma of insurgency-related problems, IDPs still had to live in conditions far below the accepted global standard.

As part of activities marking the World Habitat Day, Al-Almin earlier this week spent a night at the NYSC camp housing about 7, 000 IDPs, against the 1, 000 capacity, and expressed shock seeing that many people sleep in the open as a result of facilities being overstretched.

“The essence of me passing the night at the Maiduguri NYSC IDPs camp was to draw the global attention that the World Habitat Day is not just about cities and towns as captured in the United Nation’s agenda,” Al-Amin explained.

“If you pass the night like I did yesterday (Monday) you will feel dejected, abandoned and cheated. Now, psychologically this also affects productivity. And it starts giving you questions as to whether you are really being catered for by your relations and core Nigerians,” he observed.

While noting that no government agency should be blamed for the plight of the IDPs because of the seemingly unending insurgency, the housing authority boss called for adequate provisions to be made for IDPs, especially shelter.

“We should be looking towards providing these unfortunate Nigerians with adequate shelter in their own localities which is comparable to an average Nigerian shelter. This is an agenda that we must pursue vigorously. And that’s why the FHA introduced the innovative technology of ramp earth house building system,” he stated.

He promised that the FHA would provide both human and capital resources for the purpose of rehabilitation, resettlement and reconstruction of affected communities in the North east.

He added that an office will be created at the camp to assist in providing shelter to IDPs while the zonal office of the FHA may be relocated back to Maiduguri from Gombe, where it was temporarily situated because of the Boko Haram insurgency.