Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has tasked relevant stakeholders to support the Humanitarian Mine Action with a view to tackle its devastating impact of land mines on victims.
Farouk who was represented by the Director, Humanitarian Affairs Mr Grema Ali, said the call also underscored the Federal Government’s determination to grow capacity towards ensuring ownership of Humanitarian Mine Action Centre to be established soon.
The Minister spoke on Wednesday during a stakeholders meeting on the establishment of a National Humanitarian Mine Action Centre organised by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in Abuja.
She said that, Nigeria is a party to the United Nations convention relating to explosive ordinance and humanitarian mine action.
According to Farouk, each of the conventions places certain responsibilities on the Federal Government and Nigeria as a responsible member of the international community.
”Based on the Presidential directive, the Ministry has established the National Humanitarian Mine Action Committee.
“The committee is to tackle issues associated with mine action by leading and coordinating all humanitarian mine action activities in Nigeria,” she said.
The Minister said the Committee would provide neccessary advice, recommendations, plans and projects to ensure that Nigeria met its international obligations under the various conventions.
Farouk said that the ministry had identified mine action as one of the key strategic tasks that required involvement of all stakeholders to tackle.
She said this was by providing enabling environment through which personal security was guaranteed, especially in the North-East.
”For instance, Explosive Ordinance mostly notably improvised explosive devices, cause deaths and severe injuries, impedes access to basic socio-economic activities.
”It also hampers safe resettlement and movement of refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs),” Farouk said.
Also speaking at the event, the Coordinator of Humanitarian Mine Action Committee, a retired Group Captain Sadeeq Shehu, said, the threats posed by the explosive ordinance especially in the northeast been documented in several national and international document.
Sadeeq noted that, the Buhari administration made humanitarian mine action a priority area.
” By identifying explosive ordinance risks as one of the challenges of return and prolonged displacement and had identified 38 targeted local government areas as directly affected by violent destructions and are contaminated by various types of explosive ordinances.
”While many of the communities reclaimed from insurgents through the successful advancement of the Nigerian military have been identified as booby-trapped with land mines and unexploded bombs.” he said.
In his goodwill message, Managing Director, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Mr Buki Ponle, represented by Dr. Razak Owolabi, assured the gathering of the determination of his Agency to provide effective media coverage of activities of the Ministry.
Ponle also commended the ministry for their efforts to address cases associated with mine action in Nigeria.
