Humanitarian Affairs Minister Applaud Gov Zulum And Humanitarian Stakeholders' Support To IDPs In Borno State (Photos)
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Hajiya Safiya Umar Farouk has applauded the efforts of the Borno State government in providing food and non-food items to the vulnerable population as well as willingness to work with and support Humanitarian stakeholders providing humanitarian interventions in the State.
She said they have noted and are aware of the recent restriction of movement to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic and inaccessibility to communities due to flood and insecurity when the vulnerable persons, especially the IDPs, may require further support in terms of basic necessities including food from the Government.
The Minister stated this Saturday while inspecting and witnessing demonstration on how food items brought to the state by the federal government will be distributed to the hinterland through military helicopters especially, areas that are inaccessible due to flooding, security and terrian challenges during the raining season.
According to her, the food and condiments provided includes 26 ,067 bags of 12.5 kg Parboiled Rice; 26, 067 bags of 25 kg Beans; 26,067 bags of 12.5 kg , Maize/Millet; 11,304 bags of 20 kg Iodized Salt, 2, 607of 20 Liters Kegs of Vegetable oil, 4,345 Cartons of Seasoning Cubes 2,173 Tin Tomato Cartons in 24/48 (Tin/Carton).
She added that these food items were meant to cater for 26,067 households with a total population of 156, 402 people while disclosing that at a meeting held with the Vice President , Professor Yemi Osinbajo on 4th September 2020, it was discussed that accessibility issues faced by INGOs operating in the North East due to insecurity, floods or terrain, could be mitigated with the support from the security services .
The Minister explained further that this was also outlined in the joint CiSEC Communique signed at the end of the 3 day Civil -Security Cooperation Workshop held in Maiduguri from 6th – 8th November 2019 where the Communique highlighted the need for Civil – Security Cooperation to ensure the conduct of seamless humanitarian activities.
Hajiya Safiya said the CiSEC structures provided the relevant platform for the essential dialogue and interaction required between humanitarian/civilian and security actors which is necessary to pursue common goals that protect and support persons of concern affected by emergencies created by wars, armed conflicts, and terrorism; natural and secondary catastrophes; and technological and environmental disasters.
"However, to ensure that we are able to provide adequate support, I wish to request that the State Government provide the necessary information required to enable collaboration with the Nigerian Airforce to drop food and non-food items in locations that have been made inaccessible due to insecurity or the recent flood.
"Your Excellency, the Managing Director of North East Development Commission and the Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency will work with your team to ascertain and provide the NHCC with the required information to ensure that the interventions we provide prioritise the needs and are sufficient for the identified vulnerable communities.
"The process of coherently addressing vulnerability of affected communities requires that we adopt a ‘humanitarian-development- peace nexus’ approach within all our structures, systems, processes, and policy environment.
" Humanitarian action, social inclusion and protection policies and programmes, as well as, peace building structures must not be implemented as silo or serial processes: they are all required to occur in a concurrent and cohesive manner, to ensure economic and social stability.
"The NHCC and my Ministry will work closely with the Borno State Government and other humanitarian stakeholders with the core objective of alleviating and limiting the vulnerability of affected populations in Borno State and the rest of Nigeria", Sadiya said.