By Habibu Harisu
UNFPA in collaboration with Sokoto State Government had donated sanitary kits to 250 women in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in Gwiwa area in Wamakko Local Government Area of the State.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the beneficiaries also included adolescent girls displaced by banditry from different areas of the state taking refuge at the camp.
Inaugurating the distribution on Wednesday, Ms Loide Amkongo, the UNFPA Head of Kaduna Sub-Office, commended the commitment of the state government towards supporting vulnerable women across the state.
Amkongo stressed the need for more consideration in terms of the condition and plights of IDPs and assured the beneficiaries of more engagements by UNFPA to ease their sufferings and complement their needs.
She counseled the beneficiaries on good hygiene and good moral habits in order to protect their body from any harm.
The UNFPA head urged them to utilise the items in supporting their wellbeing.
Amkongo said that women and girls were the most vulnerable when it comes to humanitarian crises by undergoing traumas that include abduction, forced marriage, emotional, sexual and physical violence.
According to her, UNFPA will continue to provide psycho-social support, counselling, sanctuary items, medical care, shelter, skill acquisition training and development for them.
Also speaking, Hajiya A’isha Dantsoho, the Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, said that the kits were meant for women and adolescents living in the camp.
Dantsoho said that the kits contain materials such as soaps, pads, slippers, under wears, washing powder, gel shampoo, wrapper, tooth paste, tooth brush, towel and others needed for proper hygienic
.
She added that a plan was under way to include them on skills acquisition training in the camps as an encouragement for self- reliance and productive engagements.
Dantsoho congratulated the beneficiaries, while thanking UNFPA for its sustained support and generosity to the needy in the state.
“This is a generous gesture which will immensely add more value to our commitment towards ensuring the healthier generation we desire,” she said.
In her remarks, Special Adviser to Gov. Ahmad Aliyu on Resident Communities and IDPs, Hajia Maryam Suleiman, assured that the state government would remain closer to UNFPA and other agencies to sustain more support for the vulnerables.
Suleiman urged the beneficiaries to utilise the items properly and adhere to the guidelines on hygiene as well as put more efforts on productive living.
Some of the beneficiaries, Rabi’atu Garba, Habiba Shehu, Shamsiyya Salisu, Jamila Yusha’u and Badariyya Musa expressed happiness over the gesture which they said would support their lives.
During the event, the beneficiaries narrated their respective situations, backgrounds and familial relationships, where officers counseled them and offered advice on ways out and productive engagements. (NAN)
