Nigeria’s Forgotten Millions: The Yelwata Protest and the Broken Promises to IDPs
🛑 "We are starving.
We are sick. We are forgotten." These
were the unspoken cries that echoed through the streets of Makurdi on June 19,
2025, as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Yelwata in Benue State
blocked major roads, desperate to be seen and heard. Their protest was not just
a plea—it was an indictment of a system that has systematically failed
Nigeria’s most vulnerable citizens.
🏚️ Life at the
Margins
Yelwata’s IDPs aren’t asking for miracles, just the bare minimum to survive. Yet, their camps tell a harrowing story: no mattresses, no medical care, not even mosquito nets to ward off sickness. Children sleep on concrete floors, pregnant women endure without healthcare, and food has become a luxury, not a right.