Ekiti State government has lauded the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for supporting the needy and victims of disaster in the state.
NIMASA recently donated food stuff, household items, educational materials, and SMEs support tools to ameliorate the plight of the less privileged in Ekiti. The items include computers, books, sewing machines, grinding machines, welding machines, hair clippers and barbing accessories, vulcanising machines, motorbikes, and tricycles.
The state described the gesture as a significant relief to the government in its effort to cushion the adverse effect of natural and man-made tragedies on the people.
The deputy governor, Bisi Egbeyemi made the commendation Tuesday in Ado-Ekiti, when he received humanitarian materials provided by NIMASA for persons suffering severe economic conditions, especially internally displaced persons (IDPs).
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Recalling some recent incidents in the state, including communal clashes, flooding, and fire disasters, which resulted in the displacement of communities, Egbeyemi said: “The state government had intervened in some areas within its capacity, but due to inadequate resources, there are still some affected victims that have not been attended to.
“It is on this note that the state government is finding this kind gesture worthy because the provision of these items will go a very long way to cushion the effect of these disasters on the victims.”
Ronke Thomas, NIMASA’s director of administration and human resources, who represented the director-general, Bashir Jamoh, said the economic empowerment gesture was a corporate social responsibility initiative expanded to cover Nigeria’s 36 states and the federal capital territory (FCT).
“NIMASA is doing something that had not been done to this magnitude before,” Thomas said. She added: “We are on a mission to reach out and help people in the face of daunting socio-economic circumstances, often outstripping government’s official planning, and requiring extra-governmental mitigation measures and intervention from organisations and individuals.
“Principally, we want to empathise with Nigerians going through difficult conditions, and raise awareness about the dire conditions of less privileged citizens, as well as draw society’s attention – at the governmental, organisational, and individual levels – to the need to continually lend the underprivileged a helping hand.”
“This event is a strategic demonstration of the agency’s commitment to a better life for all Nigerians. We are here to succour the distressed, strengthen the weak, and encourage the discouraged. We want all to feel at home, especially those who have been physically displaced or emotionally hurt by natural and man-made disasters,” Thomas further said.
She also said that the agency had integrated support for the less-privileged and capacity building for citizens into a national CSR strategy regularly implemented according to the availability of resources.
Thomas called on privileged Nigerians to take a cue from NIMASA and “get involved in activities that support the lives of the underprivileged”.
