A Benue State Non Governmental Organization Network, BENGONET, said it had constructed 200 room apartments for Internally Displaced Persons in the state.
The NGO’s chairperson, Rachael Tyonzuul, made this disclosure on Wednesday in Makurdi.
According to Tyonzuul, the organization is concerned with the plight of the displaced persons to provide the facility.
She said the organization had been supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Nigeria and the Benue Government.
Tyonzuul said the UNHCR provided N25 million as counterpart funding for the project, the State Government gave N10 million while the remaining cost was borne by the organization.
She said the facility would take care of both the security and environmental hazards which had confronted the displaced persons.
The chairperson disclosed that other NGOs were already partnering with them to promote the wellbeing of the displaced persons in the state.
Tyonzuul said that an Abuja based NGO, OMEP, had provided beddings and food items for the displaced persons too.
She said the organization intended to convert two blocks of the apartments for a temporary school to cater for the needs of children of the displaced persons.
Also, the Executive Secretary of Benue State Emergency Management Agency, Boniface Ortese, has disclosed that 10 people had died from the flood waters in the state.
It can be recalled that NIMET had predicted upsurge of flood in the state and advised evacuation of people living in flood prone areas.
Ortese explained that the victims died from the overflow of the Kereke stream during a downpour that lasted for three days.
He also disclosed that farms and valuable property had been destroyed while many families were rendered homeless.
To avert further disaster, Ortese said the government had set aside land in Agan village to construct temporary shelter for the displaced.
Ortese also said that the Presidential Committee on Flooding and Rehabilitation was already constructing houses in the state to accommodate the victims.
He said the project was being executed through the Federal Housing Authority.
Already, he said 500 people had indicated interest to be relocated, adding: “We are ready to protect the people whenever there is flooding.”