Damboa Attack: 11 Pregnant Women Deliver in IDPs Camps

Michael Olugbode  
Eleven women have been delivered of babies at the two camps established by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for people displaced from Damboa following the capture of the town last weekend by the Boko Haram insurgents.

NEMA revealed yesterday that it had registered about 10,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the two camps established in Biu town, about 100 kilometres away from Damboa, Borno State.
In a statement by the North-east zonal information officer of the agency, Mallam AbdulKadir Ibrahim, who revealed that the agency had deployed two truckloads of relief materials in Biu to take care of the IDPs, 10 of the women had normal deliveries at the camps, while the 11th woman had to be taken to the General Hospital, Biu where she was delivered after a Caesarean Session (CS).
Ibrahim said the new mothers were, apart from the normal relief materials, also given some toys, feeding bottles and baby food for the needs of the newly born babies.
The spokesman, who revealed that the staff of the North-east zonal office of the agency had been working in conjunction with other stakeholders like the Nigerian Civil Defence Corps and Red Cross to provide succour to those in the two camps, said the two camps were established at the Government Girls Secondary School and Central Primary School, both within Biu.
He said the Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, North-east, Alhaji Muhammed Kanar, led the team of officials from the agency’s office in Maiduguri for the exercise.
According to him, they arrived Biu on Tuesday and may be leaving for Maiduguri today to plan further strategies for other numerous campsites for IDPs in the zone.
The agency has IDPs from Damboa in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State and Goniri in Yobe State.
Ibrahim, who also spoke from Biu, said the camps are daily populated, disclosing that apart from about 10,000 persons already at the Biu camps, "as I am speaking to you, two buses brought in IDPs from Damboa and the numbers continue to grow by the day."
It was gathered that the team from NEMA was also at the palace of the Emir of Biu, Mai Umar Mustapha Aliyu, to pay homage to the paramount ruler for his support to the IDPs.