AN international Non-Governmental Organization, NGO, the Royal Initiative Against Poverty and Starvation, RIAPS, on Saturday distributed foodstuffs and educational materials to Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs camp at the New Kuchigoro, as well as City of Refuge Orphanage Home, Durumi, Abuja.
Osinbajo teaching the children at the Abagana IDP camp the song “I am a winner in the name of the Lord” While donating the items to the displaced persons, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of RIAPS, Mr. James Okpanachi, said the NGO also planned to visit all IDP camps across the country as part of efforts to assist government accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals, SDG, with a focus on eradicating extreme hunger and poverty and enhance productivity of the people in IDP camps.
Okpanachi stated that about 70 percent of the population in Nigeria was poor just as he said there was a starvation problem in the country. He added that 90,000 children die every year in because of hunger in Nigeria.
Adding that RIAPS has come to support government efforts to eradicate poverty in Nigeria. Okpanachi informed the IDPs that: “We have heard of your food needs, we have heard of your education needs, we have heard that you need schools, we have heard that you need teachers, we have heard that you need books, that you need things to educate your children, we have heard that you need good food to eat, and that is why we are here”. He stated that development and productivity was a concerted effort between the public and the private sector, saying that there was a need for local and international NGOs to support federal government to ensure that the needs of displaced persons in various IDPs camps accros the country were met.
The breakdown of items donated include bags of beans, gari, rice, packs of noodles, packs of drinks, books, packs of pencils and pens. The NGO also promised to recruit 10 teachers that will teach children at the IDP camp.
“We are not going to stop; the only time we will stop is when they tell us that there is no more need”. Okpanachi assured. Speaking on behalf of the IDPs, the Chairman of the new Kuchigoro camp, Mr. Emmanuel Philmon, thanked the NGO for the donation.
He appealed to government for soft loan to enable IDPs carry out farming activities for self-sustainability rather than depending on relief material from NGOs.
The Royal Initiative Against Poverty and Starvation was also received by the children of City of Refuge Orphanage Home, Durumi, Abuja, where similar donations were made.
