The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has distributed N100 million worth of relief materials to victims of recent bandit attacks in Kanam Local Government Area of Plateau.

Some communities in Kanam were attacked by bandits on April 10, resulting in loss of lives and destruction of properties.

NEMA Director-General, Mustapha Ahmed, said the intervention was to cushion the sufferings of the people resulting from the incident.

Mr Ahmed, who was represented by Bashir Garga, NEMA Deputy Director  Operation, stated that the intervention became imperative after the agency’s assessment of the level of damage caused by the attackers.

The DG said the relief items were basically food and non-food materials. “The food materials include rice, maize, guinea corn, vegetable oil and seasoning cubes.

“The non-food items are mattresses, blankets and buckets,” he said, adding that the provision was specifically made to cater for vulnerable women and children of the communities, listing wrappers and sanitary pads for women and dairy products for children as part of the relief materials.

He called on traditional heads of the affected communities to ensure transparency in the distribution of the materials without discrimination or ethnic bias within the communities.

The DG stated that NEMA designed a format where the beneficiaries or the affected persons would be the one to get access to the items.

The Chairman, Kanam Local Government Area, Dayyabu Garga, thanked NEMA and the federal government for the kind gesture.

Mr Garga, who was represented by the Local Government Secretary, Hashimu Umar, said that the council would ensure that the materials got to the affected victims, irrespective of their religion or tribe.

“We will constitute people of integrity, honesty and commitment to ensure that the right victims get the materials. We will also monitor and ensure that it is only the affected victims that will be given this relief materials,” he said.

(NAN)