By TYAV SAM TYAV, Makurdi
The Benue State Taskforce on Durable Solution for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), has met to come out with specific roles, action plan and to strategize for humanitarian response.
This committee is aimed at the reintegration and resettlement of the Internally Displaced Persons back to their ancestral homes.
The State Commissioner for Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and Chairman of the committee, Aondowase Kunde, during the meeting informed that it became necessary for the Taskforce which has to work in collaboration with different Ministries and Agencies, to come together and share information, aimed at coming up with a workable document for the humanitarian response in the state.
The Chairman of the Taskforce disclosed that the meeting was in collaboration with the Bureau for International Cooperation and Development, and the roles of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies were defined to the various heads, adding that upon completion, the document would be presented to the Governor in line with the guidelines he has given them to work.
The Commissioner noted that all the MDAs together, in collaboration with the Bureau of International Cooperation and Development drafted the documents of humanitarian actions; the state action plan and were able to define the roles of the MDA’s to the Commissioners and heads of the concerned Agencies.
He revealed that “What we are doing is to gather this information together towards building a workable state action plan for Humanitarian response.”
Commenting, the Technical Adviser on Programmes, Bureau for International Cooperation and Development, Mr. John Akuse, maintained that the meeting was targeted at working with the Ministries on their defined roles in the development of an action plan for humanitarian affairs for Benue State.
Templates, according to him have already been sent and responses are being expected from each of the MDAs regarding the challenges and the problems they are facing, as well as what needs to be done to make their work better.
The Ministries will help us to create a response plan based on the issues brought to us from the ministries. We are not doing it on behalf of the ministries; they are coming to tell us the challenges and problems they are facing, and what they need to do their work better. The end result from this is a humanitarian response plan,’’ Akuse explained.
Present at the meeting where commissioners from various ministries;Health, Cooperatives and Rural Development, Industry, Trade and Investment, Agriculture and Food Security, Women Affairs and Social Welfare.
Others were Commissioners for Education and Knowledge Economy, Youth ,Sports and Creativity, Lands, Survey and Mineral Resource, Water Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Justice and Public Order
The State Emergency Management Agency and Commission for Peace and Conflict Reconciliation were also in attendance.