By Chikaodi Chukwuleta
National Legal Adviser, Red Cross Society of Nigeria, Mr Muazu Dikwa has disclosed that the Red Cross is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with an organisational support that play important roles in government, management, first aid and emergency response.
Speaking during a special governance workshop and tree planting exercise in collaboration with Healthy Living Club with Nonye Soludo, held at Red Cross, Anambra State Headquarters, Amawbia, Mr Dikwa, said the organisation rendered enough support during the civil war and after the civil war, supported all the emergency responses in Nigeria.
According to him, the society is headed by the national body comprising the president, chairman and others, who coordinate and support the activities of Red Cross in disaster management, emergency response, and managerial support.
He said that the organization supported during immunization and in doing disaster mapping.
“We are not a donor organization but volunteers. Whenever you call us in the area of building collapse, emergency in health, floods and others, we respond,” he said.
He explained that they mobilize volunteers in the 21 local government areas of the state and have their branches where they are actively working, noting that they want the government to know that they support them in operational part of the activities which they do.
“We work with the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), primary health care, Road Safty, any emergency response in the state and national level.”
He further stated that the orginzation has the capacity and manpower but lack funding, demanding the structure of the government to fund what they are doing, adding that some staff have been trained in disaster response, first aid, financial management, risk management, audit and law, and have supported Anambra in flood response for over 20 years, with over 2000 households during the flood response in 2021 and 2022.
He added that currently, they have also supported two local governments in the state and that over 600 households have benefited from food items and that they have installed boreholes in those local governments and given them cash of N91,000 which they will acess monthly.
“Within some states in the South East which Anambra State is not exceptional, we have supported many in the armed group and military.”
Commissioner for Health, Dr Afam Obidike said the wife of the governor, Mrs Nonye Soludo is ever ready and eager to help.
He commended them for what they are doing in the state in the area of basic life support, going from community to community and local goverment to local government, teaching basic life support and re-orieintation impacting to the lives of the populace with joy.
He equally commended Mrs Nonye Soludo who has been reaching out to people through her project, Healthy Living, distributing seedlings to people, adding that they will soon flag-off distribution of nursey tomatoes to about 326 women from all the wards in the state, who will utilize it.
Earlier in his speech, Senior Officer, Climate Change, Sunday Awulu said that climate change is caused by some activities like cutting down trees for firewood, which has caused damage to the soil.
He observed that the agrictural sector has dropped, noting that there’s need for people to retrace their steps in mitigation and adaptation to reduce the effect of climate change.
Awulu noted that tree planting is important to restore activites of all those trees that have been cut down, and replant them because the mission of the Africans are to plant 5 billion trees before 2030.
Present at the event were members of Dominican Sisters College, Abatete.
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