IDP Diaries: ‘Our Aid Materials Are Being Sold In Markets’
40-year-old Ya Kawu Goni has seen the movement of aid materials from IDP camps to markets for profit. In this diary, she shares the ruins of corruption in IDP camps.
If you go to the market, you will see some things meant for us IDPs. Things like school bags, shoes, and other useful things for the children. You will also find antiseptic, towel, and other things in the labour kits. These things are usually shared in the camp but you will also find them in the market.
This is because those who distribute them in the camp only share some and go back with the rest so they can sell.
Normally, we get food and other things including blankets and soap. We use blankets with our children, soap for baths, and detergent for washing our clothes. For two months now, we have not been given food.
We don’t know why and we only heard that there are some changes in the organisation. They used to give N17, 000. When there was a change, they gave us ATM cards and said they would give us money but did not tell us if it would be for one person or more.
They give us nutritional powder (garin boso) when they come to sign our papers. They just share it to those around and sometimes, people who come into the camp for medicine can get the powder. Some people sell it in the market so they can buy maize and beans to feed the children properly with.
(Additional reporting by Fatima Bukar and Yakura Kumshe)
Note: IDP Diaries is a first-person account by the subject themselves. The account has been translated for reading by HumAngle.
This is a multiple-part series; click here to read other IDP Diaries.
This report is a partnership between HumAngle Media and Premium Times Center for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ) under the ‘Accountability Journalism & Investigative Reporting for Deepening Democracy and Development’ project.
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