By Ahmed Ubandoma
Dr Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation expressed the ministry’s willingness to partner with the Nigeria Airforce (NAF) to address critical humanitarian crises across the nation.
Edu said, the partnership became necessary to assist the ministry to effectively reach out to people in need especially in difficult terrain across the country.
The Minister was speaking on Tuesday when she paid a courtesy visit to the Chief of Air Staff Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar in office in Abuja.
She said, the Tinubu Administration is committed to reducing humanitarian crises as well as eradicating poverty hence the need to collaborate to the military to achieve the target.
”Mr President is committed to seeing that we reduce poverty to the bearest minimum, humanitarian crisis and the number of persons who are affected by humanitarian crisis across Nigeria.
”We believe that in the cost of delivering on this mandate, your cooperation and support for the ministry is highly needed.
”We need you to come fully on board as you have always done to ensure that you give us all the support.
”I am sure you are aware that we have a good number of persons who are either internally displaced (IDPs), refugees or migrants they are all persons of concern to us and their communities.
The Minister said, some of them leave in areas difficult to access by many humanitarian workers.
” We will be seeking your support to see that we can access them through your operations where they are to be able to deliver humanitarian services to them.
”Most times it is not just going in as individuals, but the ability to take commodities, welfare items all the way down to those difficult terrain to meet the IDPs.
” We might have security barriers, assessing them through the road, probably by water, beyond this, sometimes both within and outside Nigeria where we need to evacuate Nigerians in difficult situations” she said
The Minister therefore believed that the role of the Nigeria Airforce in this operations remained unquestionable.
”We are counting on you for support in terms of intelligence, we are counting on you for support in terms of security, we are counting on you for support within your mandate to see that our job is achieved” she appealed.
In his response, the Chief of Air Staff Air Marshall Hassan Abubakar, assured the minister of their readiness to support the ministry to ease their humanitarian operations.
‘One of our constitutional roles is providing aid to civil authority, our commitment to this is unwavering and we understand that.
”In times of crisis, the Nigerian Air Force must stand ready to provide essential support to civil authorities, this includes airlift support, logistics expertise and specialized disaster response.
”Our team are trained and equipped to respond swiftly to disaster stricken areas, ensuring that humanitarian aid reach those that are in need” he said.
The Airforce Chief said, ” We view our role in military to civil authority not merely as a duty but also as an opportunity to serve our fellow citizens.
”Our airmen and women are dedicated to this duties and we continuously invest in their training and equipment to ensure that we maintain the highest standards of readiness” he said(NAN)
