Kenneth Afor
Barely 48 hours after an inferno destroyed parts of an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Nganzai Local Government Area of Borno State, another incident occurred at another camp in Maiduguri, the state capital.
The incident, which started at about 6 am on Wednesday, was said to have started from the unquenched firewood for cooking left by one of the women living in the camp
The inferno led to the death of a child and two old women injured.
Over 600 makeshift shelters were destroyed as it took over an hour to put out, according to some displaced persons at the camp.
“The fire outbreak consumed parts of the camp and was put out by the combined efforts of the IDPs, security agents and officials of the federal and state fire service,” the Punch quoted one of the IDPs as saying.
AbdulKadir Ibrahim, the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in the North-East, said a team has been dispatched to assess the damage at the Maiduguri camp.
He said: “It is sad that after a series of lectures organized for the IDPs on how to handle fire and to cook, they keep making mistakes that continue to cause infernos.
“Two days ago, there was an inferno at Nganzai camp and just today (Wednesday) there is this one at the Customs IDP camp.
“We (NEMA) are left with no other choice but to continue to enlighten the displaced persons on how to handle fire and cook.”
Ishaya Chinook, the acting Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, later stated that emergency response had been dispatched and initial needs assessment conducted.
He promised that relief would soon be provided to the affected victims.
