The representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to Nigeria and Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mrs. Angele Dikongue Atangana, on Saturday said the attacks in Agatu local government area of Benue State by suspected herdsmen left the area in total ruin.
The attack, which was reportedly a reprisal for the killing of herds of cattle by residents of Agatu communities, saw men, women and children massacred in their hundreds by the armed herdsmen.
Led on the tour of the affected area by Ezekiel Adaji, the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Internally Displaced Persons, Refugees and North East Development Initiative, Mrs. Atangana also described the level of destruction as unprecedented.
The UN representative, who stated that the plight of Agatu people deserved national and international attention, stressed that it would be difficult for the affected people to rebuild their communities without external help.
“In my 20 years of working as a humanitarian, I have never seen such a level of destruction. If steps are not taken, the crisis can affect the country as a whole”, she said.
She noted that the damage to Agatu was similar to what was happening in the North-East, and assured that her agency would aid in the rehabilitation of the displaced persons.
In her address at the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, at the Ugbokpo camp, Atangana said that the UNHCR-Nigeria had donated non-food items worth over N20 million to the IDPs, stating that the items were in the custody of the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, in Makurdi, the state capital.
