…As Humanitarian situation in DR Congo at ‘breaking point’ – UN warns***

Some returnees from Libya have appealed to Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo to fulfill his pledge and release the grant of N100 million for 150 hectares of land to them.

They appealed to the governor to give the land he promised to the 150 trained returnees.

Some of the trained returnees made this appeal when they spoke with journalists in Benin on Thursday.

The state government in November 2017 organised two weeks training programme on various aspects of agriculture to some of the returnees.

The returnees, who are indigenes of the state, were trained on poultry, fishery, food processing and crop planting.

Obaseki had at the closing ceremony of the two weeks programme, announced the approval of N100 million seed grant as well as 150 hectares of land as seed grant for the trained returnees.

The governor said that the State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), would work with the returnees for the implementation of the project.

However, some of the returnees who pleaded anonymity said they were in the dark on the implementation of the programme almost two months after the approval was made.

“January is almost gone and we are totally at loss as to what is happening to the project that is meant to cushion the effect of what some of us who returned from Libya.

“It is our belief that when implemented, we will be gainfully and meaningfully engaged and thus stopping us from being involved in social vices.

“We also believe that with timely release or implementation of the programme, those who are yet to be trained will be encouraged as well as prevented from going back to Libya.

“Whether we like it or not, some of those that have returned are still planning to go back to that country because of the hardship in the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, the government had pleaded for patience from the returnees as modalities for the implementation of the programme was being drawn out.

Mr Solomon Okoduwa, the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Anti-Human Trafficking and Illegal Migration, made the appeal while reacting to the call by the returnees.

He said the governor remained committed to the course and had been working assiduously to ensure timely release of the fund.

“I can tell you that he (Obaseki) has not relented on ensuring better life for the returnees, especially to encourage the returned once to stay back home and discouraged those planning to leave.

“It is for this reason he graciously approved the training programme and the subsequent the approval of the seed grant and 150 hectares of land.

“It will also interest you to know that about 600 others have returned and they have started receiving a monthly stipend of N20, 000, which will last for three months pending their scheduled training programme.

“So, I am also appealing to them to be patient as they have not been forgotten by the governor who has been working very hard toward this course,” he said.

In the meantime, the UN has decried the dire humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) saying the world could not stand idle as millions in the crisis-torn country ‘suffer in silence’.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said dramatic deterioration in the humanitarian situation in DRC over the past year had been further complicated by recent floods and health crises.

The UN migration agency said appealed for urgent funding to ensure continued assistance and protection for millions in need.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy, Head of Operations for IOM in the country, said: “The humanitarian situation in the DRC is at breaking point as is our capacity to respond due to extremely limited funding.

“The stories that Congolese, who have been forced from their homes, are telling us are bone-chilling.

They have been through so much already – torture, rape and murder of their loved ones – we cannot stand idly by as they suffer in silence..

“If we don’t get that level of funding then, there are people who will die. I have to be clear with this. People will die”.

He said that the severe malnutrition rates in the Kasai had increased by 750 per cent largely because the people in the region has been displaced so often, three planting seasons had been missed.

“So if you don’t provide that kind of food assistance now – to kind of bridge that gap – people who have been living off foraging in the forest, they will suffer, and the most vulnerable will die first. Children will die first. And that’s a fact,” he warned.

Across the country, some 4.3 million remain displaced, of them 1.7 were forced from their homes last year while in 2018, over 13 million were feared to be in need of humanitarian assistance throughout the country.

Children, young men, women and ethnic minorities were among the hardest hit, and nutrition, food-security and protection were the greatest needs.

IOM said particularly worrying was that an estimated 4.7 million women and girls could be exposed to gender-based violence in crisis stricken areas.

IOM regretted that in face of such daunting challenges, its response appeal was severely underfunded as only 3.5 million dollars was received in 2017 and only 47 per cent of the overall inter-agency Humanitarian Response Plan for 2017 was funded.

“Funding levels are at their lowest for many years, with DRC seeming to have ‘fallen off the map’ for many donors, at a time when we are facing vastly increased humanitarian needs,” Chauzy added, hoping that the same would not continue through 2018.

The UN agency had appealed for 75 million dollars to urgently meet the growing needs of displaced Congolese and the communities hosting them in the eastern and south-central provinces of North and South Kivu, Tanganyika and the Kasai.

Its interventions in 2018 would focus on camp coordination management; displacement tracking; shelter and non-food items; water, sanitation and hygiene; health; and protection.

According to IOM, a revised inter-agency Humanitarian Response Plan is to be released on Thursday.