By Ahmed Ubandoma
By most records, women, especially mothers and children, are the worst hit in humanitarian crisis.
Observers note that the situation is not different in the north-eastern part of Nigeria where the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents have resulted in humanitarian crisis.
The situation, according to them, has left many people homeless, increased number of widows while the surviving children suffered malnutrition.
In her bid to alleviate the suffering of such people, the wife of the president, Mrs Aisha Buhari embarked on humanitarian campaign in the region to support the vulnerable group.
On the platform of her non-governmental organisation — Future Assured Initiative — she constituted a committee of women recently in Maiduguri to take the responsibility of the distribution of drugs and food items for the needy and malnourished children in the region.
The committee, headed by Mrs Nana Shatima, wife of the Borno governor, will complement government efforts aimed at addressing some challenges among the vulnerable groups.
It was on this platform that the wife of the president presented food items and other household utensils to more than 360 families and returnees to Benisheikh town in Borno and neighbouring communities affected by the insurgency.
She also supported families whose children were killed in Federal Government College Buni Yadi, Yobe, with N200 million.
In an interview, she observed that the magnitude of malnutrition facing the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) could only be solved by collective responsibilities.
She, therefore, appealed to traditional and religious leaders, private sector, civil society and the media to be part of the initiative.
Inaugurating the “get-involved’’ initiative, a component of Future Assured Initiative in Borno recently, Mrs Buhari said poor health conditions of women and children in the country motivated her to embark on advocacy on how to improve the well being of mothers and venerable children.
For its efficiency, she explained that the initiative organised outreach healthcare-screening programme and several other interventions in all the six geo-political zones across the country.
According to her, among the health programmes organised by the initiative are provision of medical services such as blood pressure check, blood sugar check, breast examination and cervical cancer screening for women.
While appealing for more donations, the wife of the president promised to continue to provide relief materials to IDPs and contribute to the Federal Government’s effort to get the IDPs back to their respective homes safely.
The National Coordinator of the Future Assured Initiative, Dr Mohammed Kamal, said the one of the cardinal objectives of initiative was to raise awareness on improving the health and well- being of women and children in Nigeria.
He said the wife of the president had distributed 25 trucks of food items to IDPs in the region.
He also said that the initiative, through assistance of donor organisations, had made available drugs and other relief materials worth N200 million IDPs for distribution in the north-eastern part of the country affected by Boko Haram insurgency.
Mr Yusuf Nadabo, the Director (Media) to the wife of the President, described the Future Assured Initiative as an important intervention, considering the socio-economic and health problems facing Nigerian women and children.
According to him, the initiative comes at a better time when women and children in the north-eastern part of the country are faced with the worst humanitarian crisis.
This initiative notwithstanding, some concerned individuals say the effort of the wife of the president alone cannot address the enormous challenges posed by the crisis of malnutrition in the affected areas.
In the light of this, Mr Danjuma John, the Director, Know Your Right Initiatives, a Nasarawa State based non-governmental organisation, called on the wealthy individuals in the country to make donations to the organisation in cash or materials to enable them assist those people in critical condition.
John also urged Nigerians to support the initiative of the wife of the president to alleviate the plight of mothers and vulnerable children in the crisis ravaged region.
He recalled that the United Nations reports stated that 75, 000 children were malnourished in the in the affected areas and are in dire need of food.
According to him, the initiative of the wife of the president is relevant as one of the pragmatic approaches to address the plight of the less privileged, mothers and vulnerable children in the northern-eastern part of the country affected by Boko Haram insurgency.