NEWS
Over 70,000 Cameroonian Refugees in Nigeria, Need $97.7m – UNHCR
By Blessing Bature-Akpakpan, Abuja
The UN Refugee Agency, (UNHCR) has reiterated its call to the international community for urgent additional support for refugees in Nigeria, stating that the number of refugees from Cameroon has now passed 70,000, of which nearly 80 per cent are women and children.
The global agency also disclosed that US$97.
7 million was needed to respond to the needs of a total of some 78,000 refugees and asylum-seekers of different nationalities and Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.Country Representative to Nigeria, UNHCR, Chansa Kapaya made this known yesterday in Abuja.
“This is not just a number, these are people behind these numbers, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, people just like you who have been forced to flee their homes.
“UNHCR’s protection monitoring confirm killings, abductions, forced evictions and other forms of violence, with armed groups attacking schools and hospitals, and their dreams and plans disrupted by violence in the North-West and South-West regions of Cameroon where a conflict between secessionist non-state armed groups and the army is displacing people from their homes since 2017.
“Over 8,000 Cameroonian women, men and children have arrived in Nigeria’s Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Enugu, Cross River and Taraba states in the past 12 months, many in hard- to -reach rural areas.
“UNHCR, together with the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs, registered them. 59 percent found refuge in local communities, adding that the rest lives in four settlements which UNHCR helped build on land generously provided by the government,” Kapaya said.
She stated that Nigeria has a progressive open-door approach to refugees, allowing refugee girls and boys to go to school just like nationals and their parents to work where they can. With support from UNHCR, Nigeria provides primary health care to refugees and nationals alike.
“UNHCR commends Nigeria because it is on its way to become a champion in implementing the Global Compact on Refugees, adding that Nigeria needs support to care for the most pressing needs of Cameroonian refugees especially food, shelter, improved health care and education as well as livelihood opportunities.
“With rising food prices, the economic hit of COVID-19 and the refugee influx, needs are on the rise with serious risks of gender-based violence and negative copying mechanisms such as begging and survival sex,” she added.
The amount of support UNHCR can deliver is increasingly falling short. Cash for food, for instance, had to be reduced since 2019 due to insufficient funding and US$97.7 million is needed to respond to the needs of a total of some 78,000 refugees and asylum-seekers of different nationalities and to IDP needs – protection, camp management/coordination, shelter and non-food items such as blankets and jerry cans.
NEWS
Board Sanctions 118 Immigration, Civil Defence Officers
The Board of NSCDC, Fire Service, Correctional, and Immigration Service, has approved the sanction of 118 personnel for various offences.
The Board Chairman, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, made this known at the end of their meeting on Thursday in Abuja.
Tunji-Ojo, who is also the Minister of Interior, told newsmen through the board Secretary, Alhaji Ahmed Ja’afaru, that the erring officers were punished after facing disciplinary panels for various offences.
“These offences range from misconduct, negligence of duty and outright absence from duty posts.
“In the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCOs), there were 48 cases of offences, in the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), there were 21 cases.
“Also, in the Federal Fire Service (FFS) there were 12 cases while in the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), there were 37 cases,“the minister said.
Tunji-Ojo added that the board has reviewed and approved new guidelines for appointments, promotions, discipline and general purpose in the services.
He said that the board also considered and approved the timeline for the conduct of the 2024 promotion exercise in the four services.
“The board considered and approved the review timeline for the conduct of the 2023/2024 fire service recruitment.
“As for the ongoing recruitment in the fire service, we hope to publish the names of the successful applicants latest by June 15. That is where we are for now.
“We also want to use this medium to warn the general public to ignore whatever they have been seeing or hearing in the social media space as they did not emanate from the board.
“This is because, we have come to realise that the social media world had been awashed with fake news telling applicants to come for screening exercise or pay certain amount of money.
“Let me put it emphatically that the board is not asking anyone to pay money for recruitment.“
He urged applicants to be patient, saying successful candidates will be notified to come for further screening through their emails and mobile lines. (NAN)
NEWS
NSCDC Inaugurates Female Strike Force to Secure FCT Schools
The FCT Commandant of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Mr Olusola Odumosu, has inaugurated the corps Female Strike Force to protect schools in the territory.
A statement by the command’s Public Relations Officer, Samuel Idoko, on Thursday in Abuja, said the inauguration followed the completion of a three day training for the personnel.
Odumosu said that the primary responsibility of the strike force was to ensure the safety of all schools in the territory.
He said that the training had equipped them with the needed skills and capabilities to carry out their duties.
According to him, the training is a follow up to the recent meeting of all FSF Unit Commanders with the Commandant General, Ahmed Audi.
Audi had charged them to be up and doing in view of the reported cases of kidnapping in some parts of the country.
“The training is imperative to ensure compliance with the CG’s directive on the mandate of securing schools for the safety of students and staff.
“Cases of abduction in schools must come to an end, that is the primary purpose of this training.
“We need to restore the confidence of the people in our ability to secure schools in the FCT,” the commandant said.
He therefore called on schools in the FCT to register with the National Safe School Response Coordination Centre, so that they could be added to the ecosystem.
Odumosu explained that the registration was free and meant to ensure better coordination and make responses to emergencies more quicker and efficient.
Odumosu assured that the training and retraining of the personnel would be held regularly to ensure prompt response to any security threat.
“We must make schools safe haven once again for children,” he added.
He charged the female strike force to conduct routine patrol and surveillance of schools to prevent threats and attacks.
He also enjoined the strike force to hold periodic security awareness and enlightenment talks for student and teachers.
Odumosu also directed the operatives to abide by the corps’ Standard Operational Procedure in discharging their duties and avoid over zealousness in the use of force or fire arms.(NAN)
NEWS
Tinubu Appoints Bello as new Chairman of CCB
President Bola Tinubu has appointed Dr Abdullahi Usman Bello as the new Chairman of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), pending confirmation by the Nigerian Senate.
This is contained in a statement by Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, on Thursday in Abuja.
Ngelale said that Bello was a consummate professional with more than 25 years of work experience in consulting, banking, law enforcement, financial services and academia.
He said that the President anticipated the new Chairman would lead the Bureau with utmost integrity toward the realization of its mandate of maintaining high standards of public morality in the conduct of government business.
Ngelale said Tinubu expected the new appointee to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of morality and accountability.(NAN)