Nigeria's IDPs concerned about COVID-19 infection

There are deep concerns among internally displaced persons in the north-eastern region of Maiduguri in Nigeria over the spread of the coronavirus.

Around Maiduguri in the north-east, thousands of displaced people are crammed into state-controlled camps.

“We’re always praying and that’s all we can do, it is a test from almighty God so we ought to accept it with good faith. There is no peace and God is testing us with such a calamity, God take it away from us”, Aisha Abubakar, an IDP from Nganzai said.

For Ibrahim Buba, an IDP from Gwoza “There’s no support or any donation that will encourage hygiene and healthy lifestyles but yet they are still making emphasis on coughing etiquette and good personal hygiene, so how do you expect the less privileged in the camp to cope with this situation.”

Bunu Bukar Mohammed is a member of Smiles mission health care. He said people are complying with precautionary measures like frequent handwashing with soap under running water to avoid inhabitants from getting infections.

“People are complying very well, the level of compliance as you can see here, the security at the gate quite around trying to enforce, in fact, I even sighted somebody who wanted to gain access into the camp and the person declined to wash his hands and of course he was denied access”, Mohammed said.

Officials have placed makeshift hygiene facilities as part of measures to ward off the virus in these camps.

There are about 1.8 million people displaced by the decade-long Boko Haram insurgency in this city.