By Ahmed Ubandoma
Abuja – The Wife of the President, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has canvassed for social and economic support among West African ladies to cater for refugees, especially women and children, in the Lake Chad basin.
This is contained in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), by her Director of Media, Mr Sulaiman Haruna, on Monday in Abuja.
Haruna said that Mrs Buhari is currently convening a high level meeting of the African First Ladies in Sokoto State to adopt a strategy mechanism for the provision of adequate social and economic support for refugees in Lake Chad basin.
He said that the key areas of interest at the meeting included the establishment of a coordinating mechanism in the region to ensure distribution of relief materials, provision of psychosocial support to the victims and empowerment of women and girls.
Haruna also explained that the need to raise awareness and advocacy to expose the full magnitude of the humanitarian crisis in the region were also discussed.
The spokesman added that the wife of Nigeria’s president and her Nigeriene counterpart, Mrs Malika Issoufou, initiated the discussion at the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly meeting of 2016.
He also said that Mrs Buhari and her Nigeriene counterpart were deeply concerned with the spate of fleeing populations and movement of refugees within and outside their national borders.
According to him, the refugees flee in search of safety and settled life.
Haruna also explained that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) had reported 3.8 million people facing severe food insecurity and going hungry as at July 2016.
He quoted Dr Hajo Sani, the Senior Special Assistant to the President in the Office of the Wife of the President, who led Nigeria’s technical team, saying the high-level meeting is slated for Feb. 28 in Abuja.
According to him, the meeting will be attended by the first ladies of Niger, Cameroon, Chad, Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali, as well as development, voluntary and civil society organisations.
The media aide also stated that the leader of the Nigeriene delegation, Dr Hadari Zeinabou, underscoring the purpose of the meeting as to enable the First Ladies to complement the efforts of their spouses in the area of improving the health and well-being of the less privileged in the Lake Chad region.