Nigeria donates 1110 metric tons of relief to Mali

With over 500 of its military personnel deployed in the ongoing Africa-led International Support Mission to Mali, Nigeria has handed over a total of 1110 metric tons of assorted relief materials to the Malian Government for internally displaced persons as a result of ongoing armed conflict in the region.
The items were transported in 37 trucks and delivered by the National Emergency Management Agency in Bamako, the capital of Mali, at the weekend.
The Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani-Sidi, said that the relief intervention was on the directive of President Goodluck Jonathan, who urged urgent delivery of the emergency materials to the affected population in addition to the deployment of a contingent of the Nigeria military to ensure return to normalcy in Mali.
The items, Sani-Sidi said, comprised foods, clothing, household utensils, detergent, antiseptic, mosquito nets and beddings.
The NEMA’s Director of Search and Rescue, Air Commodore Charles Otegbade, who led the team of aid and emergency workers to Mali, said: “The recent draught and the ongoing armed conflict in Northern Mali, occasioned by insurgency and rebellion has created a serious humanitarian crisis and displacement of persons in the country.
“It becomes necessary for friendly nations to render logistic and humanitarian assistance and to restore normalcy and avert the spillover of the unfortunate event to the border areas of Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritain and other countries of the sub-region.”
Nigeria’s Ambassador to Mali, Iliya Ali Nuhu, who presented the items to Malian Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Mamadou Sidibe, at the Nigerian Embassy in Bamako, said the humanitarian gesture was in line with mutual cooperation and the friendly relations between the two countries.
Sidibe said the gesture also demonstrates collective solidarity towards sustaining peace and stability in the West African sub-region.
Receiving the items, Sidibe described the gesture as timely and therefore thanked the people and government of Nigeria for the humanitarian effort.
He said it will further strengthen the existing ties between the two countries.
“Our country and people indeed appreciate Nigeria’s participation in the ongoing military support mission in northern Mali and we shall remain grateful for this gesture,” he said.