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Flood: Save the Children raises concerns over risks of health crisis in Borno IDP camps
Save the Children International (SCI) Nigeria has raised concerns over the health of more than 300,000 people, including children, forced to move to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps in Borno State due to the flash floods that ravaged the state last week.
The flood, which is the worst in the country in the last two decades, has affected over 400,000 people, leaving families without shelter, healthcare, food, and clean water.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, SCI Nigeria Country Director, Mr. Duncan Harvey, noted that the living conditions in the overcrowded camps are poor and unsanitary.
He said urgent intervention is key to averting the risks of exposing the already displaced persons to diseases such as malaria and water-borne illnesses in the camps. According to him, the first cholera case has already been reported.
“More than 400,000 people are affected by floods in Borno State, with 37 deaths and 58 people injured reported to date. Conditions in the hastily opened IDP camps are overcrowded and unsanitary, and the scale of partners’ services is not keeping up with the numbers.
“According to the Borno State Government’s Emergency Operations Centre, over 300,000 people have been registered in at least 26 relocation sites, as of 14 September. Up to 30 sites have been set up and registration is ongoing.”
“Access to hospitals, markets, and other critical infrastructure remains limited. Maiduguri Teaching Hospital has been severely damaged, one of the largest hospitals in the country. Schools are closed, with some serving as temporary relocation sites or IDP camps.”
“The flooding is happening at the height of a food and nutrition crisis – the lean season. In addition to the immediate need for food and clean water for IDPs, water-borne diseases and malaria are major risks. Open defecation in the camps is widespread. The first cholera cases have already been reported, and this is a major health risk that needs urgent intervention,” he stated.
The SCI Nigeria Country Director also noted that the organisation is doing its part to provide immediate assistance to the flood victims.
He however called for support from the Federal and Borno State governments for more effective interventions from humanitarian actors.
“Save the Children is currently on the ground to provide urgent rescue service, lifesaving response, and rehabilitation of affected communities.
Save the Children’s urgent response plan to the crisis includes but not limited to, Multi-Purpose Cash Assistance (MPCA) to affected households; setting up health and nutrition outreach services to the affected households; rehabilitation of sanitation facilities and conducting hygiene promotion and community awareness raising; child protection in emergencies through the setting up Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) help desk to provide psychological first-aid and psychological support to children and caregivers in the camps; the rollout of safe family sessions and establishing minimum protection monitoring activities, among others.”
“Save the Children calls on the Borno State Government and the Federal Government to ensure that humanitarian actors are supported, encouraged, with
enabling approaches and systems that helps to speed up the efficiency of lifesaving flood response programme for the children, families, and communities who are urgent need,” Mr. Harvey said.
Senator representing Kogi East Senatorial District, Jibrin Isah Echocho, has congratulated Muslim faithful for the successful completion of this year Ramadan fast, urging them to celebrate the Sallah in love, and unity across our communities.
Echocho in a statement madeavailable to CAPITALPOST in Lokoja o Sunday, described the Ramadan period as stressful, but deserving, because it is the only period for spiritual reflection on abstinence from immorality, sincere sacrifice and supplications to Allah.
He added that, Ramadan symbolises Allah’s way of teaching humanity on virtuous living, where people keep away from all forms of comfort to appreciate what the less privileged experience and deprivation they suffers daily.
He task Muslims to extend the lessons of Ramadan to the way we live with our neighbours.
“Let’s seek peace at all times and promote unity of purpose in our society” the Lawmaker demanded.
“May the celebration brings sustainable peace to our homes, my district, Kogi State and Nigeria, he concluded.
The President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio has commended Senator Basheer Lado, for redefining the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters, stating that, for the first time in a long while, the office is fully meeting its expectations.
Speaking during his visit to the office of the Special Adviser to the President on Senate Matters accompanied by distinguished senators, Akpabio described the visit as a significant step in strengthening Executive-Legislative relations.
He praised the Special Adviser and his team for maintaining the confidentiality of communications between the President and Senate, and also, ensuring a seamless flow of information. He further emphasized that the office is now more result-oriented.
Additionally, he acknowledged the office’s diligent efforts in tracking all Bills passed by the Senate and assented to by the President, underscoring its critical role in legislative efficiency.
Expressing his satisfaction, Akpabio noted that he and the Senate delegation were proud of the office’s achievements and looked forward to sustaining the existing cordial and productive relationship between the Executive and the Legislature throughout the administration.
In recognition of his exemplary leadership, Senator Lado presented an Award of Excellence to Senator Akpabio.
In his remarks, Senator Lado reaffirmed his commitment to fostering a harmonious working relationship between the Executive and the Legislature. He lauded Akpabio for his unwavering dedication to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda—defending it with clarity, articulating it with passion, and advancing it through legislative action.
Ahead of the 2025 political party Congresses, Plateau State Chapter of the Labour Party (LP) stakeholders has endorsed the defection of the candidate of the party in the 2023 general elections and the leader of Justice and Rebirth, Barr Gyang Zi SAN, to the All Progressive Congress (APC) with the view to key into the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
They made the call in a communique issued at the end of the enlarge meeting of the stakeholders from Plateau North senatorial zone at the residence of Barr. Gyang Zi in Rayfield Jos.
The communique which was jointly signed by Dr. Ayiki Sati Director General, Justice and Rebirth and
Barr. Samuel Galadima- 2024 Chairmanship candidate of Jos East LGA among others said the call became imperative on the sideline of the leadership tussle at the National Level which violates the core principles and values for the formation of the Party as an alternative for Nigeria for the protection, sustenance of democracy and Social Justice.
They regretted that the leadership tussle has also divided the party into factions leaving party loyalists and supporters in the state of despondency and confusion not knowing where they belong.
Our correspondent reports that the gathering included LP candidates from the 2023/2024 general elections, party executives, and support groups from the six local government areas of the Northern Senatorial District.
Besides, the focus of the discussions was centered on the state of the Labour Party at both national and state levels and the need for political realignment ahead of the 2025 party congresses and conventions.
The stakeholders further frowned at the structural weaknesses in LP and resolved to advise Barr Gyang Zi, to leave the party and join the APC while expressing confidence that the APC would provide him with a platform to advance good governance in the state .
The communique also emphasized the importance of political consultations, particularly with APC leaders at both state and national levels. It called for collaboration with Plateau State APC leaders, including Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe, Sen. Simon Bako Lalong, Sen. Diket Plang, and other party officials.
According to the communique, supporters of Barr Gyang Zi also pledged to mobilize grassroots support for the APC, stating that their leader’s defection would strengthen the party in the state.
They urged the APC leadership to formally receive Gyang Zi and his supporters into the party, marking their official transition from the Labour Party.
Stakeholders also reiterated the need for inclusive governance, ensuring that youths, women, and less privileged individuals are sidelined in the democratic process and accordingly officially denounced their membership in the Labour Party, declaring their support for the APC.
They assured that all LP structures aligned with Gyang Zi would follow suit, shifting their loyalty to the ruling party in the state and at the National level.
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