The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) on Tuesday donated food items to Internally Displaced Persons of Bakassi, Cross River.
The event, which took place at the Cross River State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Calabar, saw IDPs massively turnout to receive the items.
TBI Africa.com said the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that the items donated include rice, beans, palm oil, vegetable oil, noodles, mattresses, and other consumables.
The Director General of NIMASA, Dr Dakuku Peterside, said that the donation was to complement the efforts of the federal and state governments in providing succour for the IDPs.
Peterside, who was represented by Mrs Moronke Thomas, NIMASA’s Director of Planning, Research and Data Management Services, said that the agency had intervened and distributed relief materials to victims of flood and other disasters in 20 states.
According to him, the food items and other materials were distributed to the IDPs by the agency as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.
“It is not easy for someone to be displaced from his or her ancestral home. We have brought these items to you out of love and care with a view to alleviating your sufferings.
“NIMASA is carrying out this humanitarian service to show that we empathise with the IDPs on what they are going through.
“The management of NIMASA is very passionate about this and we have so far extended these humanitarian services to 20 states.
“We hope that this gesture will go a long way toward adding nutritional value to the IDPs because we care and feel their plight.
“Disaster can affect lives and properties and the effect can be devastating, especially when you consider the fact that natural disasters cannot be planned,” he said.
Mr Princewill Ayim, the Acting Director General of SEMA, thanked the management of NIMASA for their show of love and care for the Bakassi IDPs.
Ayim, who received the materials on behalf of the state government and IDPS, said the number of IDPs in the state was on the increase, adding that the state government was doing its best on their welfare and security.
“I want to specially thank the management of NIMASA for this show of love and care. These are some of the assistant that we seek from government agencies and corporate organisations.
“As we speak, the number of IDPs in Cross River is on the increase due to communal crisis, flooding and other disasters,” he said.
Leader of the IDPs camp in Bakassi, Mr Etim Ene, thanked NIMASA for the items donated to them, noting that the camp was still lacking basic facilities like portable drinking water and a health posts to attend to their health challenges.
