The Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr. Mustapha Maihaja, has tasked stakeholders on ‘fresh ideas and perspectives’ to chart a new course in the delivery of humanitarian services in Nigeria and beyond.
Maihaja stated this in Abuja while fielding questions from the media as part of the agency’s activities to commemorate the World Humanitarian Day (WHD).
Speaking through the Director, Disaster Risk Reduction, NEMA Mr. Vicent Owan, Maihaj, said attacks on humanitarian workers have been on the increase.
“For instance, in 2015 four NEMA staff survived an attack on a camp of Internally Displaced Persons camp in Yola where they were providing humanitarian supports.
“But another staff, John Iliya wasn’t so lucky as he was killed by Boko Haram insurgents on 8th August last year in the line of duty while providing supports in Borno State,” he decried.
“In April this year, four staff of the Agency on humanitarian service in community affected by flood in Rivers State were kidnapped and spent more than 7 days in captivity.
Recently, the emergency rescue equipment of the agency in Central Business Area, Abuja were razed down in another attack targeted at NEMA personnel and facilities,” he decried.
He stated further that this year’s theme: “Celebrating Women Humanitarians
” is apt and significantly highlights the unique perspective of the special role of women in humanitarian services.
The World Humanitarian Day provide the opportunity to reflect on the risk associated with the provision of humanitarian services and honour the heroism of defying obvious dangers to offer hope and succor in dire situations.
The United Nations General Assembly in 2008 set aside 19th of August every year as the World Humanitarian Day to commemorate the 2003 terrorists attack in Bagdad, Iraq where 22 people lost their lives including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Special Representative of the Secretary General to Iraq, Mr. Sergio Vieira de Mello.
President of the ECOWAS Commission, Jean-Claude Kassi Brou, in his speech to celebrate the 2019 WHD assured of collaborating with the federal government to provide boreholes, rehabilitate damaged schools and health facilities in communities affected by insurgency in the Northeast.
