Intervention Funds: Reps Query NEMA Over Poor Management

The House of Representatives has queried the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) over poor management of funds for vulnerable Nigerians across the IDPs camps in the country.

Chairman, House Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, Rep. Joseph Bassey, frowned at the shortage of distribution of food and non-food materials to vulnerable Nigerians across the IDP camps.

Bassey, who spoke with journalists after a thorough investigation of activities in camps, said that the funds that had been released so far by the Federal Government to rehabilitate the displaced Nigerians have been under-utilised by NEMA.

According to him, the agency had only resorted in distributing garri, noodles and rice without properly providing livelihood and long-term benefits for the IDPs.

He lamented that with the hundreds of billions of Naira released to NEMA so far, there was no plan for skills acquisition for the IDPs.

According to him, not long ago, the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, revealed that President Tinubu had approved N50 billion to NEMA, to kick-start the Pulaku initiative which was a non-kinetic solution to the crisis confronting the people of the North-West part of the country.

“As a lawmaker, we must be proactive and sensitive to the plights of our people. From what I have seen so far on ground, NEMA has not done the right thing in the welfare of these displaced Nigerians.

“The funds that have been released to them in hundreds of billions have been mismanaged and the DG must be held to account for it.

“From what we have seen on ground, it was only garri, noidles and rice that have been distributed to the IDPs. Is there no room for equipping them with skills to make them self reliance?

“Now that serious flooding has been predicted to happen in the coming days, is it only garri and rice that would be available to those who will be affected? Is that what is going to sustain them?”

The lawmaker further expressed concern on the State-to-State distribution records of the agency, which he described as higher level of injustice on the vulnerable Nigerians, adding that this cannot be accepted henceforth.

“We were elected to serve humanity; what I have seen on the ground falls short of what we can accept from the agency,” he stated.