Oludamisi Ojo

The Commandant, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps(NSCDC), Ekiti State Command, Mr. Olatunde Fayemi, has said that the country’s 2.7 million Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) require the sacrifices of volunteers for adequate care.

According to him, the outrageous, number of victims made it expedient for the country to boost its capacity for conflict resolution mechanisms and fight against social ills prompting crises, drug abuse, and sectarian attacks.

The Commandant spoke in Ado Ekiti, on Tuesday, at a press conference marking the International Civil Defence Organisation Day 2022, with the theme: “Civil Defence and Management of Displaced Population in Face of Disaster and Crisis: Role of Volunteers and And Fight Against Pandemics.

Fayemi led NSCDC men and officers around Ado Ekiti metropolis, to offer medical services, clear drainages, and perform traffic control, as part of their contributions to nationhood.

He lamented the increasing number of IDP victims, saying “Nigeria currently has an aggregate of 2.7m IDPs spread across the Northeast, Northwest, and Northcentral of Niger State.

The NSCDC chief said these are people that were displaced by the Boko Haram invasion, bandits, kidnappers, flooding, and many other natural and human activities that were avoidable.

He said”All these persons need the resources of volunteers to take care of them as government alone cannot solve it. We are all worried at this high number of refugees and we have to do more to prevent further escalation”.

On the recurrent fire incidences in IDPs camps, Fayemi said they were not intentional and that the federal government is fortifying the Federal Fire Services and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to curtail such occurrences.

On world politics, Fayemi said the raging Russian-Ukraine war, had displaced thousands of people, killed many, and destroyed infrastructures in Eastern Europe, with echoes of third world war resonating as NATO and world powers, joined the fray.

Over 6,400 Russian anti-war demonstrators arrested in Moscow, St Petersburg

He said the warring countries must embrace conflict resolution mechanisms to avert the escalation of the local problems being encountered by other countries through the displacement of their citizens.

The Commandant stated that the kind of volunteerism needed by IDPs is that of social services, care and donations, that can give them the best of care and protection as legitimate citizens.

NSCDC started as a volunteer organization before regularisation in 2003 through the Act of National Assembly.

Fayemi described Ekiti as one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria.

Consequently, he said it has no permanent IDPs, except those that were temporarily displaced by flooding and fire incidents that had been quickly resettled by the state government.