VSF distributes N600 million farm inputs to victims of Boko Haram

The Victim Support Fund (VSF) on Thursday commenced the distribution of farm inputs worth N600 million to 4,000 households who were affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

The three states are the most affected by the insurgency which has claimed thousands of lives since 2009. Millions of people have also been displaced by the insurgency.

Speaking at the flag-off ceremony in Garubula village of Biu Local Government Area in Borno, the Director of VSF, Sunday Ocheche, said the inputs comprised of seeds, herbicides, fertilizer and power tillers.

He said 2,000 households in Borno would benefit from the gesture. He said the remaining 2,000 households were drawn from Adamawa and Yobe states. He said each household was expected to cultivate one hectare of land.

Mr Ocheche had engaged community-based organisations to monitor the distribution of the items to ensure that same reached the targeted groups.

According to him, at the end of the farming season, VSF will organise an agricultural show and the community that came first would be rewarded.

In his speech, Theopilus Danjuma, chairman of VSF, said they had been intervening in many communities affected by insurgency.

Represented by Gloria Shoda, National President of National Council for Women Societies, Mr Danjuma urged the beneficiaries to utilise the items for the purpose they were meant.

Flagging-off the distribution,Governor Kashim Shetima of Borno said the contribution of humanitarian organisations could not be under-estimated.

Represented by Usman Daka, chairman, Biu Local Government Area, the governor said government would continue to accept laudable initiatives by well-meaning Nigerians.

The VSF is one of the government intervention agencies set up to assist victims of the Book Haram insurgency.

Its activities are expected to wind up soon following President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent inauguration of the board of the North East Development Commission. The president said all other agencies set up to intervene in the North-east would be subsumed in the commission.