AUN, UNHCR train 1,000 IDPs in skills’ acquisition

Oxfam urges govt to tackle humanitarian crisis in N’East

The American University of Nigeria (AUN) in collaboration with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has trained 1,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), especially women, in different skills.

The women were trained in groundnut oil and cake production, popcorn production, poultry farming, fashion designing, as well as buying and selling of agricultural produce.

The training aimed at empowering IDPs that have returned home and those still staying in camps to become self-dependent.The Project Co-ordinator, Malam Ahmed Mohammed, said the project was designed to disengage IDP returnees and those still in camps from depending on government and organisations for their survival. He said their businesses would take away their minds from the trauma of the Boko Haram attacks and also restore their hopes of achieving their goals in life.

In another development, an international aid agency, Oxfam, has advised the Federal Government and decision-makers to first resolve humanitarian and security problems in the Northeast before investing in the reconstruction effort in the Lake Chad Basin.
 
The agency said otherwise a vital level of initiative to stabilise the region would not properly succeed and may worsen the situation.Campaign Manager for the Lake Chad Basin, Aurore Mathieu, who stated this during the Lake Chad Basin summit at the weekend in N’Djamena, Niger Republic, said it would be folly to think about new stabilisation strategy that calls for donor investment into farming and livelihood projects when people cannot access their lands.
 
“To invest heavily in rebuilding schools when the security situation is very bad will be tantamount to efforts in futility.“If the stabilisation strategy does not prioritise the protection of civilians and the food security of millions of families, the crisis would not end soon,” he said.

He lamented that the Lake Chad Basin is the only area in West Africa where there are no signs of improvement in the food security situation.Also, a statement signed by the spokesperson of Oxfam, Maria Jose Agejas, lamented that the food insecurity situation was deteriorating in the basin countries of Cameroun, Niger and Nigeria, as 515,000 children are currently suffering from acute malnutrition.