I nmates of the Internally Displaced Persons camp in Edo State have appealed to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Yakubu Dogara, to redeem the pledge he made last year, when he visited them.
Dogara visited the IDP camp in Ohogua, Ego Local Government Area near Benin City in 2016 in company with some other members of the House of Representatives and he promised to pay the enrollment fees of the inmates interested in enrolling for the National Examination Council, the West African Senior Certificate Examination and the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.
Some of the IDPs at the camp have, however, lamented Dogara’s inability to fulfil his promise to offer them assistance in sitting for the examinations.
According to one of the IDPs, who pleaded anonymity, “The speaker came to the camp with some of his colleagues and promised to pay for those of us taking NECO, WASCE and JAMB exams.
“Our coordinators have been making all efforts to ensure that we are enrolled, but the money for payment is not there.
“The whole issues has become complicated; when a new school session is taking off, the coordinator has to buy books and other school materials for the students and the pupils.
“We are appealing to the honourable speaker to, please, look into our issue so as to save us from the trouble.”
Similarly, the IDPs also appealed to the Edo state House of Assembly speaker to redeem his pledge.
They claimed that the Edo Assembly Speaker came to the camp last year and promised to assist them with the sum of N500,000, which they had yet to receive.
“How do we live by unfulfilled promises? It is really very sad. We need their support, as our fathers and mothers. They are our leaders, we have no hope than theirs,” another IDP said.
However, no fewer than 65 student IDPs, who graduated from the camp’s secondary school in Edo State, wrote this year’s UTME for admission to higher institutions this year.
The Coordinator of the camp, Pastor Solomon Folorunsho, disclosed that about 200 student IDPs would also write this year’s NECO and SSCE.
“The students are going to resume school soon here, but we have challenges of writing materials like notebooks, textbooks, mathematical sets, calculators, pencils and biro, among others. We need those materials because 65 IDPS students are go to write JAMB, while 200 will write NECO and WASC this year.
We need to prepare them for the examinations, hence we call for financial assistance to see them through the examinations,” he said. Folorunsho, however, noted that the IDPs had started farming so as not to completely depend on donations from people.
