NEMA Faults Shettima On Prostitution In IDP Camps

Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima

The North-East Zonal Coordinator of the National Emergency Management Agency, Mohammed Kanar, has denied that some girls in the Internally Displaced Persons camps in Borno State engage in prostitution to survive.

The SUNDAY PUNCH report continues:

The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, and the Network of Civil Society Organizations in the state had last week raised the alarm over the alleged trend of prostitution by some female IDPs residing in the camps.

The Chairman of the CSOs, Ahmed Shehu, had told journalists in Abuja that some displaced women and teenagers were engaging in prostitution to raise money to feed their families.

According to Shehu, 60 per cent of female IDPs suffer rape and other forms of sexual harassment because many homes in the areas are headed by teenagers who have lost their parents.

But the NEMA boss disclosed that prostitution was illegal and against the agency’s rule, hence the act was not allowed at the camps.

He added that though he had received reports of some female IDPs engaging in prostitution in some parts of the North-East, none of the cases occurred within the camps.

Kanar said, “I have heard that some women usually sneak out of the camps to engage in prostitution, but we have yet to apprehend anyone involved in the act.”

According to him, feeding in the camps has improved and cannot have made the women engage in prostitution.

He further noted that the central feeding system previously used at the camps had been abolished and that residents of the IDP camps had since received adequate foodstuff monthly.