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….Surrendered insurgents to get care there-commissioner
From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has handed over a $179,000 (about N300 million) newly built primary health care clinic to Borno State to improve access of the community population to medicare.
UNICEF Chief of Borno Field Office, Phuong Nguyen while handing over the facility to the government on Friday, said a 2024 Humanitarian Needs Overview estimated a quarter of health facilities in the northeast have been destroyed or non functioning following the years of violence.
.Nguyen said the situation propelled UNICEF to embark on intervention in health particularly with the building of a new clinic at the populated Hajj Transit Camp at the city outskirts which was once an IDPs camp and now housing thousands of surrendered Boko Haram insurgents.
“Since 2022, Hajj Transit Camp has occasionally been overcrowded and at some point, held over 22,000 individuals,” she explained.
She said the facility with medical equipment and drugs, was built to provide healthcare to vulnerable people in the community. The project was funded by the German Development Bank (BMZ and KFW), she added.
Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Zuwaira Gambo said the facility will also provide medicare to thousands of surrendered Boko Haran kept in the camp.
Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Alhaji Tijjani Bukar lauded UNICEF effort. He assured of continuous collaboration with the fund.
