Dr Betta Edu on Tuesday marked her 40th birthday with internally displaced persons at the Ichwa IDP Camp, Makurdi, providing free medical care to more than 10,000 people and distributing livelihood support, start-up capital, scholarships, and food and non-food items to vulnerable families across camps in the state.
The empowerment packages included 40 business start-up grants, 40 sewing machines with training, 40 grinding machines, 40 deep freezers, 40 mobile hair-washing kits and 4,000 wrappers, alongside 40,000 academic scholarships to be awarded over 10 years to enable displaced children to return to school.
Speaking with journalists during the outreach, Edu said spending the day at the camp was not politically motivated but an expression of gratitude to God for the gift of life.
“Today, I am in Benue because it is my birthday. I am here to reach out to thousands of people in IDP camps across the state. This is my passion and my covenant with God and humanity,” she said.
She recalled visiting Benue in 2023, where she said she met many of the displaced persons personally and remained committed to helping their families get back on their feet.
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Edu, who is also the Co-Director of the Directorate of Women Mobilisation of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, said the initiative was designed to help beneficiaries rebuild their livelihoods through start-up funds for small businesses and the provision of equipment, including sewing machines, grinding machines, hairdressing kits and deep freezers.
She said the intervention was intended to complement the efforts of President Bola Tinubu, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, and the Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, towards improving the welfare of displaced persons, and commended the support of government and international partners, noting that durable solutions must replace temporary relief.
According to her, the ultimate goal is to help displaced families move beyond temporary relief, regain economic independence and achieve lasting resettlement.
“The real idea is to ensure that we can pull them out of here back to their ancestral homes and permanently settle so they can be productive and support Nigeria with food,” she said.
Edu said Benue was chosen for the birthday intervention because of the peculiar humanitarian challenges facing displaced persons in the state and the need for sustained support for affected families, calling on the international community, development partners and well-meaning individuals to collaborate with the state government in addressing the challenges swiftly.
The outreach featured a free medical programme for thousands of IDPs in camps across the state. Celebrations broke out in the camp as beneficiaries, including youths and women, each went home with something, with many offering prayers for greater heights for the celebrant.
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