Minister of Special Duties and Inter-governmental Affairs, Senator George Akume, has said institutional preparedness, lack of trained manpower and security personnel in humanitarian – security related matters are the major problems confronting the management of displaced persons in Nigeria.
The minister said lack of a defined strategy and appreciate national framework of cooperation amongst relevant agencies and institutions to design sustainable action plan for medium and long term projects have been a huge deficit for policy makers.
Akume stated this Tuesday in Abuja at the launching of a book titled: “A Planner’s Perspective on Disaster and Conflict; Issues of Forced Displacement of Persons Management in Nigeria,” noting that “the challenges facing Nigeria include but not limited to inadequate emergency preparedness and response, the gap between relief material management and durable development projects, and ad-hoc planning and policy intervention.
“There is also lack of institutional and legal framework for the management of internally displaced population in Nigeria, insufficient or absence of inter-agency collaboration which mostly results in agencies working at cross purposes with duplicative activities.”
Akume, who was the chief host at the book launch, pointed out that his ministry, having realised these anomalies put together an inter-ministerial implementation committee on community safety and human security to create awareness for safe and secured environment, stressing that, one of the processes of creating awareness is the launching of this book authored by one of his staff, Dr. Bassey Ita Etim-Ikang.
He commended the author, saying “the book is diligently and delightfully written, full of bold insight into the womb of disaster and conflict management issues that encapsulate humanitarian challenges of our time.”
Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Ibrahim Imam advised Nigerians to live together in peace, harmony and unity as one entity, saying the book is very timely.
The author, Dr. Bassey Ita Etim-Ekang, a Director and Head of Human Resources Management Department in the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, in his remarks, thanked the minister, George Akume, MDAs, NGOs, CSOs, the academia, states and local government authorities for their wonderful support toward the success of the book launch.
