About 1.2 million people are at risk of explosive mines action in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, the United Nations (UN) resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale has said.
Schmale spoke on Monday in Abuja at the 2022 International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, saying these 1.2 million people in the three states needed life-saving assistance.
According to him, those at risk were identified during the 2022 Humanitarian Needs Overview process of the UN agency. He noted that explosive ordnance in their different forms continued to represent immediate, grave and additional threat to already suffering populations in Northeast Nigeria.
Schmale further stated United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) collated 1,532 incidents in the region involving explosive hazards from January 2016 to January 2022 with over 10,000 causalities.
About 1,356 civilians were injured and 789 killed from the number of causalities recorded, he added.
The UN official said in January 2019, Mine Action organisations provided critical life-saving information to mitigate the risk of explosive ordnance by educating more than 1.2 million Nigerians in conflict-affected communities.
“Mines and other explosives are an everyday threat to civilian populations; we particularly condemn the use of improvised mines which kill without discrimination.
“It is important to remind that such devices go against international humanitarian law,’’ he said.
Schmale added that the UN was pursuing efforts to deliver life-saving assistance to affected populations and encourage the development of a nationally-owned and coordinated response to reinforce Nigerian capacities.
He also observed that in order to reinforce national capacities for explosive ordnance management, UNMAS conducted Improvised Explosives Devices (IED) disposal training for 26 Explosives Ordnance Department operators of the Nigeria Police Force in Borno.
“More than 300 Nigeria Police Force and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) frontline officers in Borno were trained in First Aid and Emergency Trauma Bag handling for the benefit of national security services providers.
“In 2022, 12 personnel of the police will become IED disposal trainers.
Read also: Over $7bn lost to insurgency in Borno – Zulum
“Another 12 First Aid trainers and 80 personnel of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), states emergency management agencies, the NSCDC and civil society organisation have completed a training of trainers on Explosive Ordnance Risk Education,’’ he said.
Schmale added that UNMAS would give its support to Nigeria to develop and execute the national mine action strategy to enable humanitarian mine action to work.
Sadeeq Shehu, the technical adviser to the minister of humanitarian affairs, said IEDs were discovered in eight public places in the region in the past.
He further noted that the development was dangerous to the people and recommended that some mine risk awareness education be conducted for people in affected areas to sensitise them about inviting experts wherever they found IEDs.
Shehu said government had the responsibility to cater to and to support victims of detonated IEDs to sustain their livelihoods. NAN
