The
Borno Government says it will offer nursery and primary school scholarships to
23, 000 orphans taking refuge in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in
the state.
Alhaji
Ahmed Satomi, the Chairman, State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), disclosed
this on Sunday in Maiduguri.
Satomi
said the gesture was aimed at catering for the education of the vulnerable
children who did not have anybody to sponsor their education.
He said the orphans, who were unaccompanied children found in various Boko
Haram liberated towns, would be engaged in meaningful activities that would
make them forget their traumatic experience.
The
SEMA official explained that the agency, in collaboration with other
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) was doing everything possible to cater
for the welfare of the orphaned children.
“The
children are all Boko Haram victims; some of their parents were killed while
some of them had fled without any traces.
“We
are doing what we can through our Child Protection Centre that offers training,
counseling and other psychosocial support for the children.
“The Ministry for Women Affairs is helping us a lot in this regard.
“The Ministry for Women Affairs is helping us a lot in this regard.
“We
also have NGOs like Save the Children, UNICEF, Red Cross, UNDP and WHO which
are working round the clock to provide good healthcare services and other
supports,” he said.
Satomi said SEMA had separate kitchen for children where good foods were prepared and served to them.
Satomi said SEMA had separate kitchen for children where good foods were prepared and served to them.
The
SEMA chairman expressed the hope that the parents of the unaccompanied children
would soon be identified.
“With
the recent mop-up exercise by the military and the liberation of IDPs from
Cameroon, Dikwa, Gwoza and Bama, we are sure that some of the parents of these
children would be identified,” he said.
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