Over 108 Communities Displaced by Terrorists in Southern Kaduna, Says SOKAPU

Agrolog donates foodstuffs worth Over N20m to IDPs

President of the Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), Hon. Jonathan Asake has disclosed that over 108 communities have been displaced by terrorists in Chikun, Kajuru, Kaura, Zangon Kataf, Jama’a and Kauru Local Government Areas of Kaduna state.

The SOKAPU President disclosed this at the commencement of distribution of foodstuffs worth N20 million donated by Agrolog Limited, a Kaduna based agribusiness company.

He said the thousands of people in the affected communities who are now homeless are facing serious challenges at the various camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Asake warned of a serious humanitarian crisis in the affected areas unless urgent steps were taken to assist the victims.

While commending Agrolog for its kind gesture, the SOKAPU President appealed to other
corporate bodies, groups, and public spirited individuals to come to the aid of thousands of victims who were sacked by terrorists unleashing mayhem on communities in the state, almost on a daily basis.
According to him, some of the victims are living in uncompleted buildings without any assistance from anybody.

“Some of these people just find uncompleted buildings to live. Nobody is taking care of them. Only groups and public spirited individuals are helping them,” Asake lamented.
He said those who sustained injuries during the attacks could not afford to go for medical treatment “because they don’t have the resources.”
He lamented further that children in the affected communities had been out of school for a long time.

“We have a very serious humanitarian crisis in Southern Kaduna where these attacks took place”, Asake said.

He called on government and the security agencies to come to the rescue of the people.
Speaking during the event, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Agrolog Limited, Dr. Manzo Maigari,the donations were part of the company’s social responsibility.

Maigari, a former commissioner for agriculture in Kaduna state, said the foodstuffs which included maize flour, rice, beans, palm oil, soap, toothpaste, pomade and sanity pads among others, were targeted at 10,000 families affected by the deadly attacks by bandits.
He added that N2million had also been set aside for medical treatment for those wounded during the attacks and could not afford to go to the hospital for treatment.
He said, the company which operates in the Ginger value change, has been working with communities as partners.

He said, “Our company, Agrolog Limited is basically an agribusiness with focus on Ginger value change.

“We introduced a social entrepreneurship model where we give small holder farmers input with credit and they pay back with ginger.

“We as a company have decided to give back to the people that we work with – the communities where we do business as a company.

“This is basically a social responsibility that aims at supporting government efforts as well as that of good spirited individuals who have always been there for some of our brothers that fall victims of this banditry attacks”, Maigari said.

He noted that banditry attacks was a nation wide challenge, called for the support of good corporate citizens as well as individuals to support the victims.
“We have mobilised items for the immediate needs of victims of these attacks.
“You can see behind me, packages that contains maize flour, beans, rice, palm oil, salt, maggi, pomade, toothpaste, sanitary parts and other things.

“The package is aimed at touching 10, 000 families across communities in Chikun down to the southern part of Kaduna state”, Maigari said.

He added that the company will continue to do its best to ensure that it lives up to expectations.
He said, “We understand clearly that government cannot do everything. So we necessarily must support and I call on other good spirited Nigerians to look in this direction very seriously because we have quite a number of people who have been displaced and are in dire need of survival.

“We decided to give our widow’s might to assist victims of these unfortunate attacks.
“Our budget for this, is N20m, most of it is in kind as in products we packaged.

“But our engagement with people on the field showed that the victims required medical support.
“We understand that there are people that have had to be amputated just because they couldn’t afford N2000 or N5000 for medical treatment.

“There are people who suffered fractures, there are those who require bullets to be extracted from their bodies.

“What we did was to set aside N2m as direct medical support. “We are working with Radi Foundation as partners because they have been in the field supporting these people and they can identify the IDP camps.

The distribution of the foodstuffs was flagged off at the Anguwan Zawu IDP camp in Gonin Gora area, Chikun LGA.