By Agency Reports
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has tasked humanitarians on the need to see their self safety and security as paramount before any assignment.
Mr Roufou Makou, Head of Field Office, UNHCR, Calabar Office, gave the charge in Calabar on Saturday at an interagency meeting to commemorate the 2022 World Humanitarian Day (WHD).
As humanitarian workers, it is important to always have security pass before going for any assignment as life comes first and humanitarians have to be alive to help someone.
“While we honour all humanitarians especially those who have lost their lives or were injured in the course of duty.
“I wish to advise all that safety is paramount and should be properly considered before any assignment,” he said.
Similarly, Ms Marija Rakovic, Head of Office, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Calabar Office, said the theme for the 2022 World Humanitarian Day showed the importance of humanitarian work in the world.
Represented by Dr Aliyu Yakubu, Programme Specialist, Reproductive Health, UNFPA, Rakovic said just as it took a village to raise a child, it took a whole community to help people in need.
According to her, the WHD shines the light on hundreds of thousands of volunteers, professionals and crisis affected people who deliver urgent services such as healthcare, food, water, shelter and other services in humanitarian settings.She added that while the humanitarian crisis in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) in the North East had persisted, 8.7 million people were in need of humanitarian aid as at 2021, while 6.4 million were targeted for intervention according to the Nigeria Humanitarian Plan 2021.
In the same vein, Dr Inyang Asibong, Cross River’s Commissioner for International Development Corporation, thanked organisations that had supported the state both financially and technically to help vulnerable people.
Asibong commended communities in the state that were hosts to refugees or Internally Displaced Persons though it had stretched their resources.
“I also thank Gov. Ben Ayade for hosting 44,065 Cameroonian refugees across the 18 LGAs of Cross River and pledge that we will continue to partner to support and improve the lives of vulnerable people,” she said.
The Director-General of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), represented by Mr Mowhim Kelly, appealed to all organisations present in the meeting to continue to stand for each other to ensure greater success.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the World Humanitarian Day is commemorated annually on Aug. 19.
NAN also reports that the theme for the 2022 celebration was: “It Takes a Village.
