ABOUT N6 billion ($38 million) is needed to help over two million people made
homeless by deadly floods that have ravaged Nigeria since July.
“The humanitarian community in Nigeria has presented a response plan for $38 million to the humanitarian needs after the severe flooding in Nigeria in recent weeks,” Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesman Jens Laerke said at the weekend.
Recently, authorities estimated that the floods have killed 363 people and affected another 7.7 million, 2.1 million of whom have been displaced from their homes.
“There is severe or very severe food insecurity in many places,” Laerke said, adding there was also a “high risk of epidemics” because of a lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation.
Similarly, the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) said the spread of water borne and water-related diseases like diarrhoea and malaria was a top concern.
UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said two thirds of Nigerians displaced by the floods were getting drinking water from ponds, streams or unprotected wells, while almost 70 per cent were forced to defecate in the open.
UNICEF said it had already reached 258,000 displaced people in 17 camps with emergency supplies.
Meanwhile, a group of the victims has praised a federal committee raising funds for their welfare for the job it has done so far.
The president of Flood Victims Action Organisation, Godwin Ogheneovo, also thanked other individuals and bodies that have contributed to the relief efforts.
It was akin to the epochal gathering anchored by Bob Geldof, which drew humanity’s attention to the plight of Ethiopian famine victims some years ago.
However, last Thursday’s equally significant gathering in Abuja was for prominent Nigerians and institutions to stand up in solidarity with their compatriots who were victims of recent flooding across the country. About N11 billion was raised for the victims and would be put in a special fund set up by the Federal Government in the wake of the natural disaster.
At the event were eminent Nigerians including President Goodluck Jonathan, business mogul, Aliko Dangote, who is a co-chairman of the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR) as well as Guardian Newspapers Limited’s Executive Director Toke Alex-Ibru among others.
Dangote led the way when he donated N2.5 billion and another N150 million for the running of its secretariat.
The President of Dangote Group who had earlier donated N200 million to Kogi State government during his visit to the flood ravaged areas said it was the responsibility of all Nigerians to bring back smiles to the faces of the victims.
Jonathan, who described Dangote as a rare-breed that is always willing to give back to the society, had at a fund raising dinner held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, lamented the unpleasant situation the victims have been subjected to which necessitated immediate intervention by the Federal Government with the release of N17.6 billion.
The President noted that the rampaging flood had rendered millions of citizens’ homeless, in addition to scores of lives lost while property and farmlands have been destroyed.
Dangote said his visit to Kogi State was an eye opener, pointing out that “sometimes, we need to have the genuine experience of deprivation and poverty in order to appreciate the need to be our brother’s keeper. We should all be problem solvers and ready to make people happy when the opportunity comes. Nobody says ‘thank you’ for growing a profitable company, but people will say ‘thank you’ when you give.”
While urging other Nigerians to donate generously to the cause, Dangote said the soul of business was not making money but making people happy.
He stated: “I believe quite strongly that people make the difference and not the balance sheet. We impact positively on the lives of the people, not by how much money we have accumulated, but by how much goodwill we have accumulated.”
Assuring that every kobo donated would be put into judicious use, Dangote said the fund would be transparently managed and that as part of the transparency drive, the amount contributed or pledged, would be displayed on a website: www.nigeriafloodrelief.org specifically created to monitor the donations and the use they are being put into.
Dangote challenged the telecommunications operators in the country to consider donating N1 for every SMS sent through their network, to the victims.
He added that there was no other auspicious time to show that Nigerians have a milk of kindness in them other than now “when parts of our motherland are in distress, it is time for us to be ready to give something back. Whatever we give can never be too small or too big.”
Source Guardiannews.com
“The humanitarian community in Nigeria has presented a response plan for $38 million to the humanitarian needs after the severe flooding in Nigeria in recent weeks,” Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesman Jens Laerke said at the weekend.
Recently, authorities estimated that the floods have killed 363 people and affected another 7.7 million, 2.1 million of whom have been displaced from their homes.
“There is severe or very severe food insecurity in many places,” Laerke said, adding there was also a “high risk of epidemics” because of a lack of access to clean water and adequate sanitation.
Similarly, the UN children’s agency (UNICEF) said the spread of water borne and water-related diseases like diarrhoea and malaria was a top concern.
UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado said two thirds of Nigerians displaced by the floods were getting drinking water from ponds, streams or unprotected wells, while almost 70 per cent were forced to defecate in the open.
UNICEF said it had already reached 258,000 displaced people in 17 camps with emergency supplies.
Meanwhile, a group of the victims has praised a federal committee raising funds for their welfare for the job it has done so far.
The president of Flood Victims Action Organisation, Godwin Ogheneovo, also thanked other individuals and bodies that have contributed to the relief efforts.
It was akin to the epochal gathering anchored by Bob Geldof, which drew humanity’s attention to the plight of Ethiopian famine victims some years ago.
However, last Thursday’s equally significant gathering in Abuja was for prominent Nigerians and institutions to stand up in solidarity with their compatriots who were victims of recent flooding across the country. About N11 billion was raised for the victims and would be put in a special fund set up by the Federal Government in the wake of the natural disaster.
At the event were eminent Nigerians including President Goodluck Jonathan, business mogul, Aliko Dangote, who is a co-chairman of the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR) as well as Guardian Newspapers Limited’s Executive Director Toke Alex-Ibru among others.
Dangote led the way when he donated N2.5 billion and another N150 million for the running of its secretariat.
The President of Dangote Group who had earlier donated N200 million to Kogi State government during his visit to the flood ravaged areas said it was the responsibility of all Nigerians to bring back smiles to the faces of the victims.
Jonathan, who described Dangote as a rare-breed that is always willing to give back to the society, had at a fund raising dinner held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, lamented the unpleasant situation the victims have been subjected to which necessitated immediate intervention by the Federal Government with the release of N17.6 billion.
The President noted that the rampaging flood had rendered millions of citizens’ homeless, in addition to scores of lives lost while property and farmlands have been destroyed.
Dangote said his visit to Kogi State was an eye opener, pointing out that “sometimes, we need to have the genuine experience of deprivation and poverty in order to appreciate the need to be our brother’s keeper. We should all be problem solvers and ready to make people happy when the opportunity comes. Nobody says ‘thank you’ for growing a profitable company, but people will say ‘thank you’ when you give.”
While urging other Nigerians to donate generously to the cause, Dangote said the soul of business was not making money but making people happy.
He stated: “I believe quite strongly that people make the difference and not the balance sheet. We impact positively on the lives of the people, not by how much money we have accumulated, but by how much goodwill we have accumulated.”
Assuring that every kobo donated would be put into judicious use, Dangote said the fund would be transparently managed and that as part of the transparency drive, the amount contributed or pledged, would be displayed on a website: www.nigeriafloodrelief.org specifically created to monitor the donations and the use they are being put into.
Dangote challenged the telecommunications operators in the country to consider donating N1 for every SMS sent through their network, to the victims.
He added that there was no other auspicious time to show that Nigerians have a milk of kindness in them other than now “when parts of our motherland are in distress, it is time for us to be ready to give something back. Whatever we give can never be too small or too big.”
Source Guardiannews.com
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