Residents Of Shimfida Community Return After 5 Months As IDPs

For residents of Shimfida village in Jibia local government area of Katsina State, it is respite at last after five months of being displaced. Their houses were destroyed forcing them to take refuge in schools and begging to eat but finally, they have returned home.

Shimfida, which is about a kilometre from a dreaded forest and hideout for terrorists, is said to have come into existence about 100 years ago through one Dan-Ali, who migrated from a village called Dansanda to Gazara and small other settlements before finally settling at the main town of Shimfida.

The community has a population of approximately 20,000 people and depended mainly on farming sorghum, millet, potatoes, and beans, among others, which are the main sources for survival over time. The agrarian community wouldn’t want this year’s rainy season to pass without cultivating any crops.

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Hence, they were excited and overwhelmed to return home, especially when the first tranche of vehicles arrived at their camp in Jibia town to pick them up. There was palpable joy on their faces seeing that the government heeded to its promise of not only providing adequate security, food and money but also resettle them to their ancestral home.

LEADERSHIP Weekend, however, observed that the displaced victims in some of the trucks that conveyed them back home, have only a few bags in their hands while many others, especially the men, didn’t even carry any luggage but were prepared for the journey.

A housewife, Laure Iliya, who left home in March this year to settle at Government Girls Secondary School, Jibia, said she was happy that they were finally going back home, hoping that their return would bring more blessings to the community.

She appreciated the government for the support they received while in camp, urging them to extend the same gesture as they return home because they have nothing left in the community and they have to start life afresh.

Iliya also pleaded with the government to deploy enough security in the village to protect them against invaders.

Another victim, Haruna Ahmad, said there was no doubt that bandits were still around the neighbourhood, but they had no choice than to return to their ancestral home.
He pleaded with the government to station security personnel there as they were returning home.
He said, “There is a need for the government to protect us so that we will be able to move about in search of food to feed our families. Farming has gone far. We cannot plant anything now apart from potatoes and maybe beans.
“ The government has to help us with food. Our houses have been destroyed; some were repaired while a lot of others are still uninhabitable.
“My house was not roofed but I’m going back home because being in my house is more important for me than hanging elsewhere. Staying in the camp was a horrible experience and that’s why I’m happy to return home today.”
The secretary of the Shimfida Youth Association, Lawal Salisu, also appreciated the local and state governments for taking care of them throughout the five months and for the effort put in place to return their people home.
“Today, I’m very happy that I’m going home. We left our homes unprepared, where a lot of lives were lost, property worth billions of Naira were destroyed and many sustained various degrees of injury. But today through the grace of Allah we are going home. We are grateful to the government for the support we’ve received”
On his part, the chairman of Jibia LGA, Hon Bashir Sabiu disclosed that the government was returning about 12,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from both camps in Jibia and Niger Republic to Shimfida village.
According to him, the government has already made arrangements of returning all the victims to their homes after carefully monitoring the situation and providing enough security to escort them home and also station some of the security there.
He explained that the state governor, Aminu Bello Masari has approved all the proposals the local government had for the rehabilitation of the community.
Hon Sabiu said, “By the grace of God, we have gotten the first approval of N88.6 million. The second approval was also given to purchase drugs, machines and other logistics at about N18 million.
“We are returning them home because some of them have started farming in the area. We want them to go back and start farming activities.”
In terms of security, he said enough security has been deployed to the area. “It was the Army that left the area earlier that gave in to the sack of the community and Governor Masari had spoken to President Muhammadu Buhari which approval has been given for the redeployment of the soldiers.
“We have those displaced in Jibia and others in Niger Republic. Those in Niger Republic are about 6,000 while the ones in Jibia are over 6,000.”
Also, following the spate of terrorist activities in the state, the State House of Assembly resolved to confront Governor Aminu Masari and President Muhammadu Buhari to come up with a new strategy that would end the threat.
The chairman of the House Committee on Information, a lawmaker representing Katsina LGA, Aliyu Al-Baba reiterated the concern of the assembly over the deteriorating cases of insecurity, stressing that the house had discussed intensively and resolved to meet the two prominent leaders.
Al-Baba further stated there is a need to take the fight to the bandits inside the forests instead of allowing them to prepare and range onslaught on innocent people, describing the situation in the state as unacceptable and vowing for urgent measures to be taken.
He, therefore, thanked Governor Masari for aiding the Shimfida community to return home and emphasized the call for citizens to defend themselves against the terrorists instead of solely waiting for the government.