Caritas Nigeria urges FG to declare banditry a humanitarian emergency
From Bashir Rabe Mani in Sokoto
A Catholic agency, Caritas Nigeria, has urged the Federal Government to declare banditry a humanitarian emergency.
Our Correspondent in Sokoto reports that the call was made on Thursday in Sokoto by Mr Jude Akwo, Programme Officer, Good Governance, Caritas Nigeria during a one-day ‘Stakeholders’ Policy Dialogue and Research Dissemination Workshop.”
The workshop has the theme, ‘Building Community Resilience Through Women’s Roles in Conflict Prevention and Mediation in North-Western Nigeria: Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States.’
According to him, doing so will give proper attention to the situation, attract the support of nternational humanitarian agencies and provide formal camps for displaced persons.
He said the current IDP camps are not formal, and several abuses are taking place including rape because the displaced persons are living in makeshift, incomplete buildings.
“If government think that they don’t have the needed resources to be able to intervene in terms of putting them in IDP camps, they should first of all agree that there is a humanitarian emergency in their states as a result of banditry and terrorism.
*So that what is happening in the Northeast can be replicated in the North-West and then response should be more organized, should be more strategic and all of that.”
According to Akwo, .the foundation is a conglomerate of Caritas across the world, under Caritas International with headquarters in the Vatican.
“We are a Catholic agency that deals with the development and humanitarian intervention in Nigeria.
” This project is part of our Good Governance unit, where we deal with peace building, civic participation, civic engagement, and then collaboration between citizens and governments.
“We also have a platform where we do parliamentary liaison. We also have a parliamentary liaison office under this thematic area. And all of us, we are under the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria.”
The Project Manager said that the workshop was to assess women agencies in conflict areas in the North West.
He added, “Basically, the conflict situation in the North-West is banditry and other forms of terrorism, how it affects women and how women have responded to the situation over time.
“We try to see that we go beyond just the female victimhood.
“We have found that women have done more than just being victims in the conflict, they have also engaged in early warning and early response mechanisms.
“They’ve also designed an agency where they respond to the conflict. They commune to take care of other kids, their parents who have been kidnapped.”
According to him, the idea of the project is for government to also look at the victims and the gender response to dealing with the issue of banditry in North-Western Nigeria.
Akwo further noted that women have played roles in intervening, adding, “one of the roles they’ve played is that the community they’ve built around taking care of survivors.
He said what they found out was that women in affected communities have engaged in negotiationswithbandits and even set up a contributory savings, where they contribute to even pay bandits.
On ensuring transparency in security spendings, Akwo urged civil society organizations to start regular engagements to track the security spendings.
