Kasim Sumaina in Abuja
The North East Development Commission (NEDC) has taken over from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) the responsibilities of routine food distribution to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in designated camps, host and liberated communities in Borno and Adamawa States.
The agency explained that the shifts in the routine feeding of the IDPs to the NEDC was occasioned by dwindling resources at the disposal of the agency and in consideration of several other sudden disasters nationwide.
Following this development, the Director-General NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, led the management of the agency to the NEDC Abuja Liaison Office on a working visit, where he appreciated the takeover of the routine feeding of the IDPs.
Ahmed in a statement issued yesterday in Abuja by the agency’s Head of Press Unit, Manzo Ezekiel, noted that: “I wish to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to the managing director of NEDC over his pledge on October 16, 2022, at the Conference Room of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Management and Social Development to take over the feeding of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps and host communities hitherto being provided with daily ration of food and non-food items by the NEMA in Maiduguri and Yola in Borno and Adamawa States respectively.
“This gracious takeover of NEMA routine intervention by the NEDC will decouple the resources deployed and grant us the impetus to further deliver relief support to persons in need in the event of sudden onset disasters nationwide, including in the North-East region.”
Despite the takeover, Ahmed maintained that NEMA would continue to provide relief assistance to impacted communities in the North-east region whenever sudden onset disasters hit, adding that the agency would be ready always to work with the NEDC in areas of relief support, damage, loss assessment and capacity for staff members in consideration of the strong operational and service delivery commonality between the two sister agencies.
Reviewing the present situation, he explained that NEMA has over the years since the escalation of the Boko Haram crisis provided feeding to IDPs living in camps in Madinatu, Muna Garage, Customs House, Goni Kachallari, and Shuwari IDP camps in Maiduguri metropolis in addition to several other host communities.
Also, in the same vein in Adamawa State, he said NEMA has been providing feeding to the IDPs located in Fufore, Malkohi and St. Theresa IDP camps in addition to other displaced families living among host families.
Ahmed said this was in addition to the provision of household items, hygiene materials, clothing and other items that ensure minimal comfort to the teaming IDPs that constitute of innocent Nigerians that were caught up in the web of crisis, lost their homes, their dignity and basic family comfort.
The NEMA boss further provided statistics of the IDPs that are being fed by the agency, saying: “According to records from the NEMA Zonal Office in Maiduguri and the Yola Operational Office of the agency, as at the end of September, 2022, NEMA is providing daily feeding to 149,448 persons comprising 24,908 households in Maiduguri. At the same time, in Yola, Adamawa State, NEMA is feeding 19,626 comprising 2,992 Households in the camps earlier enumerated.”
Responding, the Managing Director of
NEDC, Alhaji Mohammed Alkali, said the decision to take over the routine of food distribution and feeding in the IDPs camps would help eliminate duplication of efforts and allow for scares resources to be deployed in other areas to assist Nigerians in distress.
He described the new development as a positive beginning that has unfolded a new vista of partnership and collaboration between NEMA and NEDC for the benefits of Nigerians.
