Three Million People Displaced By Insurgency In 3 Months – NEMA

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Tuesday said that three million people were displaced by insurgency in the North-East between January and March.
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NEMA Director-General Mohammad Sani Sidi made this known at the 7th National Humanitarian Coordination meeting organised by NEMA for donor agencies in the country in Abuja.
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Sani-Sidi said NEMA in collaboration with the Red Cross and State Emergency Management Agencies in affected states, carried out a comprehensive multi-sector rapid assessment of humanitarian situation in the areas.
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Represented by Dr Zanna Mohammad, NEMA’s Director of Administration, Sani-Sidi said the assessment was carried out between March 3 and March 7.
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“The assessment report findings revealed that from January to March alone, insurgency and other humanitarian challenges have affected more than three million people.
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“The insurgency left scores dead and displaced more than 249,446 people who are in camps or living with host communities,’’ he said.
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He said the meeting was to review the humanitarian situation in states affected by the state of emergency.
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The director-general said the meeting was to explore avenues for further response by national and international humanitarian actors.
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He said although NEMA had intervened through the provision of food and non-food items, water and medicaments, the needs of the affected population are on the increase.
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He solicited the support of all donor agencies in alleviating the sufferings of those affected.
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“Let me use this opportunity to call on all actors local and international to share with NEMA their plans and intention for providing support to Nigerians in distress.
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“This is desirable to avoid duplication of efforts, confusion and inefficiency,’’ he said.
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Some representative of donor agencies at the meeting commended efforts being made by NEMA to provide figures on the humanitarian situation in the North-East. Choice Okoro, the Head of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Nigeria, said the organisation would spend 75 million dollars on humanitarian assistance in Nigeria.
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She said 75 per cent of the amount would be used for humanitarian intervention in the North- East.
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Okoro commended NEMA’s openness in providing information on humanitarian situations in states affected by the insurgency.
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A representative of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Mr Soji Adeniyi, called for the sustenance of the periodic information on humanitarian situation in the affected states by NEMA.
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“What is happening in the North-East is unprecedented; we have never had this kind of displacement caused by conflicts before in the country,’’ Adeniyi said.