The TY Danjuma Foundation, on Thursday, donated food and other relief items to Internally Displaced Persons (IPDs) at the Wassa resettlement camp, Apo, in the outskirts of Abuja.
The acting Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Gima Forje, told newsmen that the materials were donated to meet critical needs of the less privileged in the camp, during the lockdown period.
Forje said the gesture was to provide succour and alleviate the plights of over 5,000 less privileged people in the camp.
“The chairman of the foundation, retired Lt. Gen. TY Danjuma, is particularly concerned about the well-being of the most vulnerable group in the society, especially in the face of the novel coronavirus, which is impacting on their lives disproportionately.
“The IDPs, to whom the foundation is offering support today, were dislodged from their homes in the North East and are barely managing to make a living around Wassa.
“As restrictive but necessary measures to combat the novel coronavirus are being enforced, many IDPs at Wassa, have been cut off from their means of livelihood.
“This necessitates quick humanitarian responses from institutions like ours to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 amongst the most vulnerable group in our community.
“That is why the chairman approved an immediate humanitarian relief package for the IDPs at Wassa,’’ Forje said.
The items donated include 1,500 (50kg) bags of rice, 1,500 bags of beams, bags of corn, toiletries, bathing soaps, blankets, baking flours and gallons of ground oil.
The Chairman of Wassa IDPs, Mr Geoffrey Bitrus, appreciated the foundation for assisting the people “at this critical time’’.
Bitrus said the IDPs had thought that they had been forgotten.
He described the palliative as coming at the right time, as “it is the first donation received in the camp since the lockdown order imposed to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic in the country”.
“We are very grateful and we pray that God should grant the foundation chairman, long life to continue to do good to Nigerians,’’ Bitrus prayed.
He called on government and other kind-hearted Nigerians to emulate the foundation by donating generously to the IDPs.