DM Monitoring
LAGOS: Nigerian government planned to airdrop food and non-food items to vulnerable people in areas inaccessible due to floods and insecurity in Borno state, northeast of the country.
Humanitarian Affairs Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq was in Maiduguri at the weekend to deliver relief materials to Borno state.
She told reporters the airdrop relief operation is being carried out by her ministry in collaboration with the Nigerian air force, so as to reach many locals in various communities not accessible in Borno.
“There have been issue of inaccessibility in some areas where humanitarian workers can not reach due to recent floods and insecurity,” Farouq said.
She said, vulnerable persons, especially the internally displaced people, may require further support in terms of basic necessities, including food, from the federal government at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is compounding their sufferings.
She said government would identify inaccessible communities and equally know the kind of intervention needed.
“We will identify such locations and know the number of people in those locations,” she said.
While responding to question on the possibility of Boko Haram hijacking the airdrop aid, the minister assured that air surveillance would also be done to ensure the exercise do not go awry.
