From Esther Akaa, Lafia
The fight against climate change does not only affect the safety of the environment for human habitation. It also affect the means of livelihoods of farmers which exposes women and girls to hardships such as poor nutrition, lack of medicare, gender based violence, among others.
According to a research conducted by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Uganda, changing weather patterns, heavier rainfalls, prolonged droughts, higher temperatures, increased crop failure, livestock loss and increasing food insecurity, all create impact on climate change. And this exacerbates the risk of violence against women. For instance, during periods of prolonged drought, women and girls make more frequent and longer journeys to obtain food or water, which makes them vulnerable to sexual assault.
Consequently, some of the victims of these climate change crises resort to marrying off their daughters to better cope with food scarcity. Meanwhile in some families where men leave to other places to seek a living, women and children are left to fend for themselves, which make them vulnerable to violence and sexual exploitation.
In Nasarawa State, the case is not different as climate change effects such as flooding and the herdsmen/farmers crisis, impacts on the lives of victims especially those living in the Internally Displaced Persons ( IDPs) camps.
The Voice visited some of the IDPs camps in Keana and Awe Local Government Areas of the state and reports that women and children are vulnerable to sexual harassment as they lack basic necessities of live such as food,water, healthcare, education and other means of livelihood.
Some of the women interviewed in the camps said that their girls spend more time fetching water as there are no sources of water in the camps. The women also revealed they spend more time and energy finding food and water, which means that they might not have time to complete their other household and family responsibilities.
Speaking in an interview with The Voice at Central Primary School Giza, Keana LGA of the State, a 52 year old widow, Mrs Juliana Vincent said flood had been destroying their farms before herdsmen attacked their village, killed some farmers and displaced others .
According to this mother of nine, the herdsmen attacked her village, Tse- Gbayar in Giza Development Area of Keana LGA in September , 2022 and displaced the community.
” We have been in the IDPs camp since September 2022 and we are suffering due to lack of food and other basic necessities of life.
” I have nine children , four girls and five boys and it has been very difficult to survive . I am a widow and four of my daughters are married so I basically depend on them to survive in this camp.
“The government came here last year and gave us relief materials but since then , we haven’t heard from anyone again. We need food to survive,” she said.
She therefore, called on the government to provide assistance to them in order to ameliorate their plights.
Also speaking, Mrs Deborah Godwin, a mother of 5 said it has been difficult to feed in the camp since their means of livelihood were destroyed by herdsmen.
Godwin said some of her children have been ill due to lack of proper medical care in the IDPs camp. She called on government to provide medical services for them.
“There are no medical facilities in the camp to take care of our healthcare needs and we don’t have money to go to the hospital,” she said.
On her part, 11 years old Mercy Shaorga, who was displaced from Sabon Gida Bature in Giza Development Area of Keana LGA , said she was in Primary 4 before the crisis but had dropped out of school due to lack of resources.
Shaorga explained that her parents left 10 of them who are siblings with their aunt and went to Benue State to work on people’s farms to be able to feed them.
She, however said she has not been sexually harassed or abused by any one while staying in the camp.
Similarly, some of the women interviewed in Awe LGA of the state, including Joy Aondoakura, Lucy Agula and Nguumbur Tyoapine, appealed to the government to return them to their ancestral homes.
Responding on behalf on the state government, Hon Peter Ahemba, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule on Public Affairs, said the government was aware of the presence of some IDPs in Keana, Awe and Doma LGAs of the state.
Ahemba explained that the IDPs were mostly people from bordering communities, people who live at the border areas between Benue and Nasarawa States. He said that government was concerned about the plights of the IDPs and has been supporting through the State Emergency Management Agency (NASEMA).
He said: ” The inhabitants of those areas have not been able to return as a result of the incessant activities of suspected herdsmen.
“Governor Sule has been so passionate about the condition of the IDPs there.That is why the Governor personally paid a visit to the affected places, sometimes last year.And even after the visit, there have been interventions through the Nasarawa State Emergency Management Agency, NASEMA.
“At each time there is any problem of food shortage or health crisis concerning the IDPs, government responds to them. At the moment, what the state government is doing is synergising with the Benue State counterpart to see how they can return to their villages because this is an area that has to do with the two states’ governors coming together, because the affected communities are at the border areas of the two states.
“There have also been series of security meetings at the level of the local government chairmen, that is Keana local government and its counterpart in Guma LGA of Benue State and then the governor and his counterpart Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State.”
He, therefore appealed to the IDPs to be patient as efforts were ongoing to return them to their places of abode.