Director-General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Maihaja, disclosed that officials of 16 state governments and some federal lawmakers witnessed the distribution of relief materials to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
He also said it was not true that relief materials were not distributed to states in the North-east since his assumption of office in 2017. Maihaja, who made the disclosure yesterday while appearing before the House of Representatives Ad Hoc Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, said the materials were distributed under a Presidential Intervention Programme. The NEMA DG, who tendered the list of distribution of the materials and photographs of how deliveries were eff ected before the Committee, said contrary to accusations that neither state governments nor officials of State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) were involved, the federal government held series of meetings with the benefi ciary states. He said: This is a presidential intervention conceived by the Vice President. The issue at stake was a Presidential intervention. By the time I took over and I was invited on May 26, 2017, to join the team
. “A sub-committee headed by Minister of Budget and National Planning held meetings with Borno, Yobe and others where the issue and distribution was discussed. They were part of the programme. We moved to site together with them. There’s perfect collaboration with the states right from the onset. “The governments of Yobe and Adamawa were invited at the inception of the programme. They made inputs of where and how many quantity of items to be distributed to each local government was discussed and a memo was raised to the Vice President and was approved.
“There was collaboration with the states. We visited the state governors to the best of my understanding. The states were part of the distribution from day one. There could be issue of breakdown of communication. The Vice President was the one who conceived it. Officials of Gombe and Yobe states were involved in the process of distribution of these items. They went with us and ensured that these items were distributed to the right destinations.”
Continuing, he said: “Besides visiting several IDP camps, several federal lawmakers participated in the distribution of the materials. Senator Bukar and Honourable Karasuwa participated in the distribution in Yobe state and other lawmakers in other states too.” Earlier, representatives of State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) from Yobe, Bauchi, Taraba and Gombe states had denied that they were aware of the distribution of relief materials to their states. Bauchi state government confirmed the distribution, but regretted that it was not involved.
Taraba SEMA claimed it was excluded from the distribution. According to Gombe, there is no Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps in the state and, therefore, had no use for relief food materials.
