As part of its corporate social responsibility, New Castle Food Limited, producers of Nau Nau foods, has donated food items to 45 displaced children at the Linking Hand Foundation.
The children, who are between seven and 15, were displaced last year in Otodo Gbame community, Lagos and are under a free pre-school progamme of Linking Hand Foundation.
The firm’s Marketing Manager, Ms Nsikan Osoh said the donation was aimed at helping helpless children.
She said: “The challenge with food security is real in Nigeria as tons of food waste every day and it is incumbent on us to provide food to children who may not have access to good food.”
She said energy provided by healthy foods ensures that children would be ready to participate in learning.
Osoh noted that the company is passionate about helping hapless children in displaced communities.
She said the firm gave the food to the pre-school programme to harness the potential of the hapless children and engaged them to improve their lives.
She said: “Thank you New Castle Foods for today’s free food and for making our dream to give these indigent children a healthy meal-a-day as part of our No Limits Education Project, a reality”.
She continued: “Many times I am overwhelmed by the “so much” there is to do in meeting the needs of the less privileged in our society. I often wonder how it would all be done. Then I remind myself that “Every little makes up the big”.
Efe Farinre, who noted that the foundation sought for the displaced children in Otodo Gbame last year, said the firm was providing them free-school programme that would help in preparing the children for the next academy year in any public school around the area.
Farinre added: “Many of the children have been battered and shattered, so much so that they have come to see life as one-sided and strictly in favour of the rich and privileged few.
“These children carry a strong sense of pain and the feeling of injustice and insecurity in their own country, hence the need to restore hope to them by impacting their lives in very positive and practical ways.’’
New Castle Food Limited, producers of Nau Nau foods, has donated food items to 45 displaced children in Linking Hand Foundation.
The children, who are between the ages of 7 and 15, were displaced last year from Otodo Gbame community, Lagos and are under a free pre-school progamme of Linking Hand Foundation.
Speaking at the event, the Marketing Manager, New Castle Food Limited, Ms Nsikan Osoh, said the donation of the food items was part of the company social responsibility to vulnerable and helpless children in the society.
She said: “The challenge with food security is real in Nigeria as tons of food waste every day and it is incumbent on us to provide food to children who may not have access to good food. We gave tons of food items to children in Internally Displaced Camps across the North and we are willing to do more and help children in need.
“Our food was developed by Nigerians for Nigerians. We are starting construction on our factory outside Lagos in early 2017. Based on our market research, many people want to have the product sooner. Until the factory has been completed, we are working with a world class manufacturer to produce the Nau Nau food.”
The founder of Linking Hands Foundation, Mrs. Efe Farinre, said the pre-school programme was founded to use education to harness the enormous potentials of the hapless children and engage them.
She said: “Thank you New Castle Foods for today’s free food and for making our dream to give these indigent children a healthy meal-a-day as part of our No Limits Education Project, a reality.
“Many times I am overwhelmed by the so much there is to do in meeting the needs of the less privilege in our society. I often wonder how it would all be done. Then I remind myself that ‘every little makes up the big’”.
Farinre , who noted that foundation sought for the displaced children from the forceful eviction carried out in Otodo Gbame last year, said: “We are providing them with free-school programme that would help in preparing the children for the next academy year in any public school around the area.
It was supposed to be a free drug donation exercise. But, for the Pharmacy students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), their visit to the camp of the Internally-Displaced People (IDP) in Isihor Village on the outskirts of Benin City, the Edo State capital, revealed several humanitarian crises facing over 1,400 children in the camp. EZEKIEL EFEOBHOKHAN (400-Level Pharmacy) reports.
They all looked frail and malnourished; an indication that they were in dire need of medical attention. The available medical scheme has been overstretched, leaving many of them vulnerable to contagious diseases and hunger.
•Sympathisers attending to one of the children who fainted
This has been the fate of over 1,400 children in the Internally-Displaced People (IDP) camp in Isihor, a village on the outskirts of Benin City, the Edo State capital. The poor living condition in the camp made Pharmacy students of the University of Benin (UNIBEN), under the aegis of members of National Fellowship of Christian Pharmacy Students (NFCPS), to visit the camp.
When the students got to the camp, the children were moving around aimlessly; some of them withdrew themselves from the crowd, crying in isolation. To compound their woes, news got to the IDPs that they would be moved to an unknown location by the Federal Government.
As the students discussed with the pastors in charge of the camp, about 60 Toyota Hiace buses loaded with security operatives arrived to relocate the children. This did not deter the students from carrying out their mission.
CAMPUSLIFE gathered that the camp is owned and operated by a non-governmental organisation. It was initially an orphanage, with about 400 children before the arrival of 900 children whose parents had been killed by Boko Haram insurgents.
The President of NFCPS, Miss Victory Obiri, led her colleagues to distribute drugs to the children who needed urgent medical intervention.
Victory said the mission of the NFCPS was to boost hygiene in the camp. She said: “We were informed that the camp was in need of some OTC drugs to treat scabies. This is why we brought drugs that would help stop the spread of infectious disease.” She stated.
An agent of the Department of State Security (DSS) said the camp was not safe for the children, which warranted their relocation.
He said: “For security reasons, we are not disclosing the location we are relocating them. We have been in this camp for four days now. We just got an order from above to move the IDPs back to the North, where it would be relatively easy to reunite with their parents.”
A 14-year-old Hosea, one of the displaced children, relived the incident that wiped out his family, vowing not to go back to his village in Borno State.
He said: “The government told us they want to give us good place to stay in the North. I don’t want to go back. If they want to help, they should bring the help to us here. We are one Nigeria. They should come and build schools here. They should give us security here.”
According to Hosea, the IDPs initially supported the move to relocate them but later rejected the plan when they learnt the plot was to take them back to the North.
He added: “We heard some of the policemen said they were taking us to Jigawa. Others said it would be Kano. This is why we reject their plan to move us away from here. We don’t want to go back to any northern state. I am not from Jigawa or Kano. I have never been there before. Help us here or leave us alone.”
Things in the camp went awry when some of the children, having got the news of their relocation, slumped and convulsed.
Pastor Solomon Folunrusho, who led other clergy on evangelical mission to the camp, said some of the children were yet to recover from the shock of horror scenes they witnessed in the North.
He said: “Some of them had recently been discharged from UNIBEN Teaching Hospital. Now, the relocation plan triggered another round of shock that reminded them of the gory incidents they witnessed. Most of them actually saw their parents being slaughtered.”
The pharmacy students joined pastors in the camp to resuscitate the children, who fainted. Folurunsho described the students’ visit.
The pharmacy students condemned the manner with which the children were to be relocated. One of them said “There is no reason relocating the children back to the states close to the area of Boko Haram activities. If the government wants to help them, they should provide security for them. The children could fall victims of bomb blast if they are relocated back to the Northeast. Moving the children would further traumatise them.”
The atmosphere became rowdy when Senator Mathew Urhoghide visited the camp to mark his 60th birthday with the children.
He assured the IDPs that nobody would force them to leave the camp.
The lawmaker dismissed the insinuation that the displaced children were security threat in the state, saying: “Federal Government has better understanding for the security situation in the country but no one is saying that they are posing a threat to the state.”
Charity Chinaka, a 400-Llevel student, said the visit afforded her an opportunity to know the living condition in IDP camps, urging the government and its agencies to step up efforts to solve the humanitarian crises facing the nation.
Her words: “The visit to the Isihor IDP camp gave me first-hand information about challenges facing victims of Boko Haram insurgency. While I am glad to be part of the team that donated drugs to bring relief to the children, I will use this medium to appeal to the government and various humanitarian agencies on behalf of these children. The conditions in the IDP camp are harsh and they go beyond what we see on our television screen. How many people know that some of the children are stricken by life-threatening ailments?”
Help is finally coming the way of about 45,000 children and adolescents displaced by the activities of the Boko a Haram insurgents in Borno State as the European Union is set to make available the sum of N325 million to support community-based psychosocial protection for them.
Speaking at a signing ceremony of the financing agreement for the 11th European Development Fund support for strengthening community-based psychosocial and protection services for children and adolescents in Borno State, the Minister for National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, said the project will be implemented in 300 communities across 11 local government areas in the state for a period of 36 months.
The Minister said by authorising the financing agreement, Nigeria will be on the right path to mitigate the adverse impact of social upheavals and insecurity in Borno State. This, he said, would also significantly assist Nigeria in achieving its developmental goals articulated in the Vision 20-2020.
He said: “In 2014, the federal government of Nigeria signed the 11th EDF National Indicative Programme with the European Union for the implementation of development programmes and projects covering health, nutrition and resilience, sustainable energy and access to electricity, rule of law, governance and democracy.
“Of importance to today’s event is the support for strengthening community-based psychosocial and protection services for children and adolescents in Borno State, Nigeria, which falls into social infrastructure and service sector of the 11th EDF.
“I wish to inform you that the support for strengthening community-based psychosocial and protection services for children and adolescents projects under the 11th EDF arms to promote a community-led protective environment for children and adolescents through strengthening community-based services including psychosocial support.
“The project is expected to contribute to mitigating the negative psychosocial implications of the humanitarian crisis that currently plagues Borno State, which has largely disrupted education and health services, including immunization activities.
“The project will compliment the ongoing 10th EDF support to immunization governance in Nigeria, especially the polio eradication component which has been a source of concern to residents on Borno State.”
Head of the European Union in Nigeria, Ambassador Michel Arrion, said the programme will provide psychological first aid services to 45,000 children affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno State, especially those that require sustained support to recover from the trauma they have suffered, who will be referred to specialists’ services.
Belief came the way of over 500 displaced children in one of the Internally Displaced Persons Camps in Yola, Adamawa State.
The Modupe Ozolua Body Enhancement Foundation has sponsored the education of children between the ages of one and 14 at the Lamido Lawal Model Primary School, in Girei Local Government Area (LGA), of the State.
Following a visit, the team discovered the children were not in schools unlike some camps where temporary schools are provided.
At that point, the foundation immediately provided funds for school uniforms, shoes, books, writing materials, boards, writing chalk, rulers and hired teachers amongst the displaced Nigerians at the camp to commence teaching the children. The foundation has also taken up the responsibility of paying the teachers monthly salaries. All the children between nursery and primary six ages at the camp are beneficiaries of the foundation’s benevolence.
Last Wednesday, the items were presented to the students at a ceremony, which held at the camp. The first lady of Adamawa State, Mrs Hasana Ngilari, who gave appreciation speech, joined in distributing the school materials to the pupils.
Ozolua thanked the governor, the first lady, officials of state SEMA and other relief organisations that have worked tirelessly towards providing different forms of assistance to displaced Nigerians all over the country.
She informed the displaced families that they should be hopeful because God has not forgotten nor forsaken them. She also told the children that their destinies are not tied to a refugee camp, so they should not feel they can’t be as great as they wish to be.
Ozolua said the Body Enhancement Foundation’s sponsored school programme is part of the organisation’s rehabilitation plan for the internally displaced Nigerians, which will impact all camps in Nigeria.
