Over 60% of Ladies in Camps of IDPs are into Prostitution in Borno – NGO

A non governmental organisation, the Network of Civil Society Organisations in Borno State, has warned that sexually transmitted diseases may ravage the state if the increasing rate of prostitution by young girls inside camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), is not checked.
The NGO said over 60 percent of ladies, including teenage girls are into prostitution for survival.
The Chairman of the CSOs, Ahmed Shehu, disclosed that all were in the trade in order to raise money to feed their families.
Shehu spoke at the presentation of the situational assessment of Internally Displaced Persons in the North-East by a non-governmental organisation, NOI Polls, on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said many homes in Maiduguri and environs were now headed by teenagers whose parents had either been killed, missing or in Boko Haram captivity.
Shehu said, “Many females were raped and killed while collecting firewood, particularly as they travelled farther from their communities. Many teenagers are heading their families now because their parents had been killed or captured by Boko Haram. The sad part of it is that many female internally displaced persons have gone into prostitution so that they can feed themselves.”
The NOI in its assessment, lamented the cases of sexual abuse and rise in social vices in the camps and called on the government to address it.
It also affirmed incidences of corruption and sharp practices with respect to the distribution of relief materials donated to the IDPs.
“Majority of IDPs (93 per cent) attested that they don’t get most of the relief materials like food, clothes, medicines and so on, allocated to them by the government and donor agencies,” the report stated.
This is even as a Borno-based journalist, Mohammed Alfa, accused government officials of stealing relief materials meant for the Displaced Persons, calling on the anti-graft agencies to investigate the claims.
“If they were serious about fighting corruption they should investigate how foods meant for the IDPs were being diverted and sold by state government officials”.
He alleged that some people had threatened his life for publishing a report on the nefarious activities going on in the camps, stressing that he was not frightened by the threat.