The executive secretary of the Benue State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Emmanuel Shior, has warned that internally displaced persons (IDPs)  in the state risk being recruited for terrorism.

Mr Shior mentioned this during distribution of food items to the IDPs on Wednesday.

He said “there is need to do a lot more than providing food’’ for the more than one million IDPs in Benue, urging the federal government to intervene.

The emergency responder said there was a need to quickly ensure a safe return of the IDPs to their respective communities in good time to block them from being trafficked by terrorists.

Mr Shior noted that their continued stay in camps made them more vulnerable, adding that they had been in camps for more than three years.

“Their continuous stay in the IDPs has further exposed them or makes them vulnerable and anything can happen to them. They are even vulnerable to be recruited for terrorists’ activities.

“What we are experiencing here is a colossal humanitarian and developmental crisis as our roads, bridges, markets, churches, schools and homes have been destroyed,’’ he said

Mr Shior said relief materials would be distributed to the eight official and non-official camps. 

Benue faces displacement crises owing to constant attacks by armed herdsmen who ransack villages, pillage and burn properties.

(NAN)