The Kaduna State Government says it will no longer tolerate child trafficking in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Kajuru Local Government.

It said henceforth anyone caught would be arrested and handed to the appropriate authorities.

“When the attacks happened there were various camps but currently the local government has collapsed the camps into one camp at KADP building in Maraban Kajuru which will be the only approved camp.

“This is due to reports of possible child labor and child trafficking and to avoid the politicisation of the humanitarian situation through propaganda, as some individuals have been reported to picking children as domestic workers, henceforth the government will no longer tolerate it and anyone caught doing that will be arrested and handed to the appropriate authority,” a government statement on Wednesday signed by Cafre Caino, Chairman Kajuru LG, and Ben Kure, Executive Secretary State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), said.

It said contrary to attempts to smear the government of the state about the state of the IDPs in Kajuru LG, the LG and the State Government through SEMA have provided relief materials to the IDPs in identified locations around the LG.

“Some of the displaced persons have been absorbed by their host communities and the government is working assiduously to begin the construction of the destroyed settlements to enable the community return to their homes,” the statement said.

According to the statement, the public and all groups or organisations that will like to support the efforts of the government must contact the local government chairman or the Director Education and Social Development in the absence of the chairman to get clearance to render any support to the IDPs.

Governor Nasir el-Rufai during a recent visit to Maro, Karamai and Sakiya communities in the area where 40 persons were killed in alleged reprisals, had said that the State Government had set up a judicial commission of inquiry to probe the recurring killings in Kajuru and Kachia local government areas of the state.

The governor had earlier last month said that 66 bodies were recovered after that incidents.

The casualty figure given by the governor had at that time sparked controversy, with some claiming that it was on a high side.

El-Rufai later said the death toll had risen to 130, a figure the police say they are yet to confirm despite the figure being collaborated by a Fulani group.

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