By: Monday Danladi, Bauchi
Bauchi State Government has been called upon to as a matter of urgency, raise up to the health needs of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Alkaleri LGA who are currently taking refuge in camps situated at various public structures in Kashere, Akko LGA of Gombe State.
The call was made by the Chief of Field, Bauchi Field Office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr Nuzhat Rafique, who described the health situation at the camps as critical needing urgent intervention.
While speaking on the situation, She stated that, “And I think this is a very important and critical moment, why I said Gombe initially, because yesterday I was in Kashere IDPs camp. That is the Alkaleri people who, after an unfortunate incident, they moved and ran to Gombe state, Akko LGA, where they are in Primary School, they have been accommodated as IDPs.”
She added that, “And thanks to the Government of Gombe State, and to the Bauchi State Government, that they are doing their best to make them comfortable in that IDPs camp.”
According to her, “Despite of all the efforts, when we did the nutrition assessment, more than 80% of the children, they are malnourished, unfortunately. About 80% of the children are Zero Dose. Because of the security compromised, the LGA could not be assessed and the optimum functionality of immunization was not observed.”
The UNICEF CFO added that, ‘We see a very, very difficult situation in the camps with malnourished children, zero-dose children, all out-of-school children. So pregnant and lactating mothers, they are also undernourished and anemic. So there is a lot of health needs for those people.”
Nuzhat Rafique then expressed thanks to the Education and Health Commissioners in Gombe, stating that UNICEF is working in very close coordination with them, hoping that, Inshallah, things will work out fine.:
According to her, “Now, the Bauchi State Health Commissioner and Education Commissioner will help us in mobilizing the resources from these supplies for those people of Bauchi who are in IDPs camp in Kashere.”
The UNICEF CFO disclosed that, “We need about 200 cartons of RUTF and 100 cartons of SQLNS to meet the need of malnourished children in the IDPs camps. So that is my request.”
She concluded that, “And last but not the least, we are very grateful to the state government of Bauchi for promising N500 million for 2026, and I believe that this will be matched, Inshallah, by N500 million from CNF and we would be able to make a difference in terms of supply provision for the malnourished children during 2026 in Bauchi state.”
Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir with UNICEF BFO, CFO, Dr Nuzhat Rafique
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