THE Commission of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, through the Regional Food Security Reserve, RFSR, one of its agencies, has donated 1,130 tons, about 22,600 bags of foodstuff to the Nigerian government for distribution to the following States: Borno, Gombe, Adamawa and Yobe.

The presentation of the foodstuff such as maize, sorghum and millet took place in Maiduguri, Borno State capital on Tuesday August 8, 2017.

It was a follow-up to the series of meetings held between the regional organisation and the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, on food and nutrition crisis facing North East Nigeria and the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two parties on 22 May 2017.

Receiving the food items on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Mustapha Maihajia, NEMA’s director general and Kayode Fagbemi, director of Aid and Rehabilitation, expressed their gratitude to Marcel de Souza, the president of the ECOWAS commission, for this laudable humanitarian assistance.

According to the NEMA’s estimates, more than one million people including 211,000 from Borno State would benefit from this assistance in the North-East of Nigeria, a region affected by the food crisis.

Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State, who was also in attendance, thanked the ECOWAS Commission and its president, for the humanitarian aid to the people of Borno.

“We thank you very sincerely for this kind gesture extended to our crisis-torn communities,” he said, calling on the management team of the NEMA to ensure that the foodstuff get to the appropriate quarters.

On behalf de Souza, Florence Iheme, the acting director of Humanitarian Affairs, stated that this food aid was the organisation’s contribution to alleviate the suffering of the people in the North East of Nigeria.

She explained that it was a token of the importance the ECOWAS attached to disasters that occurred in the part of Nigeria.

“The West African community is concerned about the situation in the North East of Nigeria which has become an enclave of constant attacks on the people and loss of human lives.  ECOWAS supports the federal government of Nigeria in its efforts to fight the Boko Haram terrorist group menace,” Iheme said.

She reaffirmed the ECOWAS willingness to provide humanitarian assistance to the people in the North East of Nigeria.

Apart from Iheme, the ECOWAS delegation to the ceremony comprised Liberor Doscof Aho, acting director of Communication; Mitowanou Egnonto Koffi-Tessio, coordinator of the Food Security Storage Support Project, and Koffi Emmanuel Glé, manager, RFSR.

Since the second half of June 2017, the ECOWAS, through its RFSR, a unit coordinated by the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food, RAAF, and a specialised organ of the commission, based in Lomé, Togo, distributed grains to states in the North East of Nigeria such as Borno, Gombe, Yobe and Adamawa.

About 4.7 million people are facing chronic food insecurity as a result of the food and nutrition crisis in these States.  In other words, 30 percent of the total population are in need of emergency humanitarian aid.

In addition to the 1130 tons of grains which were presented to the NEMA on Tuesday, August 8, several bags of rice would also be delivered to the Nigerian authorities at a future date.  Overall, it was envisaged that about a million dollar worth of foodstuff would be delivered.

The donation of foodstuff was an initiative of the Food Security Storage Support Project in West Africa through the European Union’s financial contribution of 56 million Euro.

It would be recalled that in 2016, NEMA requested the President of the ECOWAS Commission for emergency humanitarian aid.

Aug 14, 2017 @ 14: 40 GMT