Experts seek ways to aid Nigerians during emergencies

Task govt on census

WITH a rapidly growing population estimated at 178.5 million as of July 2014, experts in the areas of population planning, migration, emergency management, health and other relevant bodies have said that Nigeria must launch a collaborative effort against the vulnerability of the population in times of emergencies.

The experts who converged to deliberate on cogent issues that affect the growing population of Nigeria and the increasing helpless citizens, particularly children and women in emergencies, said all stakeholders must work together to assist victims during emergencies.

Speaking at the event, which was held to mark World Population Day in Lagos, the Federal Commissioner, National Population Commission (NPC) Lagos, Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin said: “The task of addressing the needs of vulnerable population in emergencies is a collaborative effort by government at all levels, the stakeholders and the media.

Salu-Hundeyin said since it is not possible to plan without reliable data, the need for an accurate and dependable census in 2016 cannot be overstressed so as to plan for all segments of the population, stating that Nigeria should have accurate data on its population, including Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

According to her, collaboration between all stakeholders, especially large organisations that have the expertise and capacity to deal with diverse vulnerable population and emergencies as well as creating structures to and coming up with action plans at the grassroots level would go a long way to achieving the world’s focus and the urgency of making the world a safer place.