The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) have an arrangement to create economic opportunities for Nigerians living in crisis areas, especially the North East and Niger Delta regions.
In 2018, they signed a memorandum of understanding to holistically address, through innovative interventions, the economic plight of communities affected by armed conflict or violence.
Speaking in Lagos at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)-organised forum entitled ‘Human Partnerships and Social Investment in Africa’, Tony Elumelu, founder of TEF, said he has always believed that giving in Africa should be in the perspective of making people self-reliant.
Elumelu said they started with $1 million, which would cover 200 beneficiaries.
“We need to make sure that income per capita is high,” he said. “And we want to make sure we get more people involved,” he added.
According to the ICRC, 22,000 Nigerians are missing since Boko Haram crisis began in 2009— the highest number of missing persons registered with the organisation in any country. Sixty percent of the missing people are children, according to Peter Maurer, ICRC president.
Maurer said displaced people always want to do something even at IDP camps, adding that it is the society’s duty to help them survive.
“They need income-generating activities,” he said. “That’s why we have partnership with Tony Elumelu Foundation,” he added, stressing the need to make capital available for them and securitise their investments.
The Boko Haram insurgency has ravaged Nigeria since 2009. A total of 2.2 million were in IDP camps as of December 2018, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). Businesses from farms to factories have been hard bit, with many relocating from the North East.
“It is a self-enlightened interest of the private sector to get involved,” Babatunde Paul Ruwase, president of the LCCI, said.
“As businesses, we need an environment that is socially and economically stable. We also need the market. All these will not happen in the midst of humanitarian crisis,”Ruwase said.
He said commitment to fixing humanitarian problems and the prosperity of businesses are mutually supportive, adding that businesses should work towards a framework for sustainable partnership between the private sector and the humanitarian sector.
Aderemi Adebowale, special adviser to Lagos State governor on civic engagement, said government cannot handle human crisis alone, pointing out more can be achieved through joint action.
ODINAKA ANUDU
