How govts can tackle humanitarian crises – Gani Adams

With about 1.5 million Internally Displaced People (IDP) Nigeria has a serious humanitarian crisis that requires urgent attention, and the leader of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) Otunba Gani Adams has advised governments at all levels to urgently introduce measures to improve quality of life of citizens.
Adams made the call Wednesday , as Nigeria joined the global community to commemorate this year’s United Nations World Humanitarian Day.
Speaking in Lagos, at the Nigerian Humanitarian Summit, entitled: “Improving Living Condition of the Poor, Less Privileged and Physically Challenged During Crises in Nigeria,” organised by the Gani Adams Foundation, the OPC leader said the call became imperative owing to the increasing economic pressures, violent confrontations caused by poverty, natural disasters and rising number of people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgents.

He said: “According to the 2011 estimates from the World Bank, extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa has risen by over 47 percent. The continent is caught in the poverty trap, with more than half of the population living below the poverty line and on less than $1 per day. Poverty is so severe in Africa that 22 out of the 25 poorest countries in the World are from Africa.”
He noted that statistics have shown that the total number of people affected by natural disasters has risen over the past decade, with about 211 million people directly affected each year, most of them women and children.

Read also: IDPs protest planned relocation

In a related development, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Daouda Toure pleaded for more resources to meet the needs of IDPs.
During the activities to mark this year’s World Humanitarian Day celebration with the theme: “Inspiring the World’s Humanity” in Abuja, Toure appealed for more resources to respond particularly to the education and health needs of the displaced people.
“What is available is not commensurate with the situation on ground as the crisis in the North-East is not publicised enough”, he said.
Toure added that the major challenges facing the humanitarian community today was the lack of access to security and limited resources, and called on stakeholders to mobilise themselves and examine the reasons for the slow response and support needed to tackle the security challenges.

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