The Chairperson of Borno State Emergency Management Agency, Hajiya Ya’Bawa Kollo has said the dignity of the Internally Displaced People across the camps in the state is her utmost concern.
Hajiya Ya’Bawa who spoke with journalists at the Gubio IDP camp in Maiduguri frown at any time the dignity of the displaced people are compromised either in service delivery or in the provision of facilities at the camp.
The Borno SEMA Boss raised her voice on the sub-contractees whom according to her are always trying to compromised the minimum standards of operations in the camps, stressing that the standard keeps falling from top to bottom.
Her words: “Our biggest challenge is from the partners. In all the sectors, we have guidelines from site sitting to shelter , plan, main building and administration. Sometimes, the partners especially the sub-contractees, not the UN System are very adamant against respecting our main guiding principles towards accountability to affected population. Apart from other humanitarian principle of neutrality, independence, non-biasness, whatever, you are doing you have to observe the minimum standard. If it is service, you have to observe the minimum operating procedures.
“We have structures in the system, which include the UN system, the INGOs, the NGOS, community or working groups. You realized that as it is coming to the smaller base, you will see the standards will be declining. Our main challenge is for the partners to take into consideration either in service provision or in capital project to ensure that our standard is being respected and observed especially accountability to the population and respecting the minimum standard of operation in humanitarian context.
“When you talk of accountability to the population, it means that the dignity of the IDPs should not be compromised. Partners must not wait to be supervised by either SEMA or NEMA or organizations like GREEN CODE, or Follow the Money before they do the right thing either in service provision or capital project execution. So whether I am not there as SEMA to supervise you, I expect that you do the job as agreed because. I don’t know whether its is the Nigerian factor that is coming in or it’s the coordination that is very weak.
“If you observe the shelters at the camps, you will see IOM, UNHCR, UNFPA. If you go to the shelters, you will see that some of the facilities are ok but when you go to some, the quality is low. When I approached some of our partners, I was told that some of them have been built over a long time ago. But my expectation is that they should be renovated if they have been built about five to seven years ago. Even a normal house undergoes renovation talk more of these homes” she said
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