Gov. Hyacinth Alia has announced plans to close some Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Benue as a result of improved security in the state.
Alia made the announcement during a media chat with the Renewed Hope Ambassadors Presidential Media Team, led by Mr Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Strategy.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the team is in Benue to inspect completed and ongoing Federal Government and state infrastructure projects across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state.
Alia said improved security, supported by Federal Government intervention, had created relative peace, enabling many displaced persons to voluntarily return home and resume farming.
He said security indices were being monitored through security agencies deployed across the LGAs, traditional institutions and residents, who provided useful information on developments within their communities.
The governor recalled that 15 IDP camps had been established across the state following attacks and displacement.
He, however, noted that the improved security situation was gradually changing the narrative.
“We are already making some plans to close down some because the IDP occupants have voluntarily gone back to do their farming,” Alia said.
He said the state government was working with the international community, including the United Nations and International Organisation for Migration (IOM), to achieve sustainable solutions for displaced persons.
According to him, the objective is not merely to return displaced persons to their farms, only for them to flee again, but to create conditions that would enable them remain safely in their communities.
Alia said the declining number of residents in the camps was encouraging, noting that many returnees were not only farming but also rebuilding their houses in their ancestral communities.
He expressed optimism that sustained security efforts would enable the returnees to remain home, rebuild their livelihoods and contribute to the agricultural economy for which Benue is widely known.
The governor said his administration declared a state of emergency on road infrastructure, resulting in improved connectivity across several parts of the state.
He added that urban renewal projects were ongoing, while arterial roads in major townships had been reconstructed or upgraded to improve movement and economic activities.
Alia also highlighted reforms in the primary education sector, saying hundreds of local government primary schools that had suffered years of neglect were being rehabilitated and returned to functionality.
He said his administration had recruited 9,700 teachers for primary schools, describing the intervention as part of efforts to strengthen basic education across the state.
On healthcare, Alia said the state had revamped primary healthcare facilities while transforming the teaching hospital to a standard that now attracted patients from neighbouring states.
He said the teaching hospital had attracted medical tourists from surrounding states, partly because of the availability of specialists and a VIP wing that had become popular among patients.
The governor disclosed that medical equipment ordered through collaboration with U.S. government and subnational authorities was expected in the state for distribution to primary healthcare facilities across the LGAs.
Alia said the administration had closely monitored its commitments to the people, stressing that political promises must be matched with deliberate action and measurable results.
He expressed appreciation to the Federal Government for its support, saying the completion of infrastructure projects was essential for citizens to experience and appreciate the dividends of democracy.
Speaking at a dinner hosted by the state government after the media chat, Onanuga thanked Alia and his deputy, Samuel Ode, for the hospitality extended to the team.
Onanuga said he invited senior media practitioners to witness firsthand the infrastructure development and transformation being undertaken by the Federal and Benue governments.
He particularly commended the governor for reviving moribund facilities, including the Tarakum Mill, Otobi Water Works and the state brewery, describing the projects as catalysts for economic development.
The presidential spokesperson also praised the administration for road development, particularly in remote and previously insecure areas, as well as its payment of teachers’ salaries and retirees’ benefits inherited from the previous administration.
