Due to safety concerns in the area the center has paused activities after the Spring session for all minors until we can put in some necessary measures. The anticipated re-opening date is Summer 2026.
Internally displaced people living in Kogi State
The Kogi Displaced population has risen drastically over the last five years as grazing land disputes and religious conflicts have risen in Nigeria, displacing people in the North East region of the country.
A majority of the people in the camps we work with are from Benue State, of Christian faith, and are women and children. They come without any property and squat on unoccupied lands in the rural without basic needs such as shelter, food, clean water, clothing, healthcare and education. The pandemic has only exacerbated these conditions.
Why Mutane decided to start working in Kogi in 2018?
In 2018, Olufunmilayo Bodunde, the Yeye Oba of the Iyara, Ijumu area in Kogi State drew attention to various rough shod settlements of Benue State displaced peoples.
She had been approached as a community leader, to provide a safe structure for children to spend the day learning.
Due to political issues and land use laws, she was unable to do what they asked but decided to donate 25acres of land to Mina Ajiboye Pomante who had previously expressed a desire to work on Community development in Nigeria.
Mina after starting Mutane, then pledged to use the land to help work towards a safer, more permanent solution for the displaced individuals.
Where are the displaced people and what are their needs?
The land on which these settlements exist are fallow lands currently owned by private individuals and in some cases the government. Since they are illegally occupying these lands, they are unable to do anything permanent to settle in, and have created mud and tarp makeshift accommodations to live in.
The displaced people have accounts of harrowing violence and destruction which detail the loss of family members and everything they owned and are now too scared to return to their villages.
As such, Mina Pomante made a trip in October 2019 to survey the lands donated, arrange for its legal transfer of ownership, and to visit with the displaced people.
The exact number of displaced people across the area and wider region is unknown, however, Mina visited one of the smaller camps with 14 families, and approximately 70 people all together.
The residents spoke Tiv and Hausa fluently, and consisted of only 4 literate people. They were professional manual farmers and had taken up the activity on the surrounding land to the best of their limited abilities. They have been on those lands for just shy of a year and were living off it in fear of eviction.
On this visit, it was evident that they lacked proper shelter, basic supplies such as clean water, buckets, clothing, medical supplies etc., and that there were an inordinate number of women and children in their midst.
We brought lunch for them and ate with them while they told us about their community and its needs. A few miles down the way, there was an even larger community of about 50 families we did not get to meet on that visit.
What is Mutane doing to help?
Other than the supplies sent to the community after the visit, Mutane is trying to establish a farming community on the 25 acres provided. 5 acres will be reserved for building accommodations for the community, school halls for the children, and a worship hall, since they are Christians.
The remaining 20 acres will be farmed to produce finished goods which will be sold at markets in the area. The people will be paid on a profit-sharing basis, with the rest of the funds used to run the facility, pay its staff, and if possible, extend the lands and community to accommodate more displaced people.
The goal will be to keep it self-sustaining, and allow the people a safe place to stay, grow, get an education, and possibly branch out into other things once they are able.
As of February 2021, Mutane began work on the first phase of this vision by beginning work on the Learning Center. This center will provide the children with a safe place to get a basic education, one warm meal, and hope for a better future. The center also plans to provide adult literacy classes in the evenings.
Phase I: OFB MRAC Learning Center
A learning center was built in 2021 and opened to the children in December of 2021 to provide them a way to learn basic skills like reading, writing, mathematics, and the local language. There are currently 40 children attending the center five days a week.