NGO doles out over N2b as support for victims of Boko Haram

The Executive Director of an NGO, Victims Support Fund, Prof Sunday Ochoche has disclosed that his organization has expended over N2 billion to support victims of

Boko Haram insurgents in the north east.

Ochoche made the disclosure in Yola during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and cash donations of N10 and N20 millions from his organization to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) and the Specialist Hospital, Yola  respectively for free medical treatment for victims of bomb blasts and attacks .

The disbursement of the fund to the two hospitals in Adamawa State was done on Tuesday at different intervals.

The Fund headed by Lt. General Theophilus Danjuma was set up by federal government under former President Goodluck Jonathan to provide support for victims of insurgency.

He said so far his organization has doled out a huge sum of N2 billion to support the Safe School Initiative programme in the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgents.

Ochoche said the organization has also discovered that some hospitals in these areas affected by insurgency were over stressed by wounded victims of attacks and bomb blasts.

According to Him, the development informed their decision to target seven hospitals in the affected areas to give them cash support toward aiding the hospitals to continually give the victims free medical treatment.

He said so far the organization has also given out N130 million to these hospitals saying that the Victims Support Fund has also had visited three local government areas of Adamawa namely Mubi South , Mubi North and Hong LGAs  with support to the economic empowerment to Women and children in the identified councils.

However, the executive director said, “I have said during the signing of the MOU that the MOU is a very stringent one we have agreed upon.

“We have also developed very strict reporting procedures and our team will be working with identified persons and team in these hospitals that will guide us through the reporting processes and all the critical areas enshrined in the MOU which had stipulated how the money should be judiciously used,” he said.

The Victims Support Fund has disbursed N30 million to two hospitals in Adamawa State for free treatment of ‎bomb blast and other Boko Haram victims.

Receiving the donation, the Chief Medical Director of the Specialists Hospital Dr Bala Idi said the gesture will go a long way to aid the treatment of the Boko Haram victims.

‎Meanwhile, the Medical Director of FMC, Yola, Professor Awwal Abubakar assured the donors of equitable distribution of the funds.

By Tom Garba, Yola