Olalekan Adetayo, Abuja
The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday admitted that the cost of managing the humanitarian crisis caused by insurgency especially as it concerns about 2.4 million Internally Displaced Persons and extensive destruction of infrastructure “is “huge and enormous.”
According to a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, the Acting President spoke while receiving a delegation of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Osinbajo said countries in the Lake Chad Basin had been cooperating in dealing with the insurgency in the region and the consequent humanitarian crisis.
He cited the progress of the Multinational Joint Task Force set up to address insurgency as a sign of the cooperation.
Osinbajo noted that unlike in the past when there were difficulties when the armed forces of the four countries tried to work together, the MNJTF surmounted the challenges and had succeeded.
The statement partly read, “However, he (Osinbajo) observed that the humanitarian consequences of the insurgency are compounded by deep poverty, making the costs of dealing with the situation huge and enormous.
“He recalled that there are for instance about 2.4 million displaced persons, extensive destruction of property, infrastructure, schools, homes and farmland. In some cases, he said, the situation required the rebuilding of whole societies.
“But he expressed satisfaction with the work of the Peace and Security Council of the AU.”
The PSC delegation was led by its Chairperson for the month of July, Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, who is also Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ethiopia and to the AU.
In his remarks, Adeoye told the Acting President that the PSC delegation had been visiting the four countries in the Lake Chad Basin in the past five weeks, and had specifically visited seven cities in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
The PSC of the African Union is the standing organ of the union for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts.
Membership of the 15 member-council are drawn -three each- from Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Africa.
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: editor@punchng.com
source: http://ift.tt/2tSRdDH
http://ift.tt/eA8V8J