The Director General, National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, Mustapha Maihaja has denied claims and allegation by the House of Representative that the agency squandered N33billion emergency intervention fund meant for disaster management.

 Maihaja who spoke during a press briefing on Wednesday in Abuja said,  to provide context on the funding of the North East humanitarian response, the budget of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) for the period January to April 2017 was $1.05 Billion. The sum of $590 Million was for food and nutrition. As at April 2017, only the sum of $94.8 Million was provided by the donors.

He said, “This meant that we had a shortfall of $495.8 Million in food funding. For the period May to October 2018, when the Federal Government Emergency Food Intervention for the North East was being implemented, the World Food Programme net-funding requirement was $230 Million.

“Just to re-emphasis, we are not here to come up with excuses. Today, this public response is an obligation as a Government to adequately inform Nigerians of what truly happened. The confidence Nigerians have on NEMA and its capability to respond in their most difficult time of need cannot be tarnished. Nigerians need to be rest assured that NEMA is, was and will always remain  for the distressed.

 “On donated rice by the people’s Republic of China as a gesture of its brotherly relations with the Federal Republic of Nigeria donated 6,779 metric tones of rice to Nigeria as part of its support to the North East humanitarian efforts. This is equivalent to 135,550 units of 50kg bags of rice. In total, 271 containers arrived at Apapa Port from China in 5 shipments between June and October 2017.

 “In its mandate as the coordinating ministry for all foreign support, the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning received this kind gesture on behalf of the Nigerian Government. I will like to emphasis that while the Ministry of Budget and National Planning was the liaison with the Chinese Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was the consignee of the Shipments.

“Considering NEMA’s mandate as it relates to humanitarian intervention, we were instructed to take the responsibility of port clearing and ultimate movement of the rice to the North East.

“The original Shipping documents and Custom Exemption Certificates were handed over to NEMA by the Ministry of Budget & National Planning (MB&NP) in December 2017 and January 2018. Thereafter NEMA commenced the immediate clearing and subsequent haulage of the donated rice to Maiduguri, Damaturu, Yola, Jalingo, Gombe and Bauchi. Being a donated consignment, it required duty exemption and other waivers before Clearing. The Government had restricted the importation of Rice; hence the process of getting the proper documentation also took extra time.

“The total cost of Shipping and storage charges for the 271 containers was N518 million. We have all the receipts to prove this.  The actual cost of the donated rice is N2.24 billion (50.05 Million Chinese Yuan). To further justify that the items were received on behalf of the Federal Government, they were delivered into NEMA warehouses in Gombe, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, and warehouses provided by the State Governments in Bauchi, Taraba and Yobe. The Chinese Rice was used for monthly feeding of the IDPs specifically in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States with balance in stock at Gombe, Bauchi and Taraba.”

The DG said on the 15th April 2017, United Nations World Food Programme (UN WFP) alerted the FGN that it would be reducing its vital support to about 1.8 million IDPs by as much as 85%, due to corresponding reduction in funding by the donor countries. The WFP requested the FGN’s support to augment this shortfall and avert any additional suffering on the displaced Nigerians in the zone. Based on the analysis presented, the WFP shortfall would commence by May or June 2017.

Around the same time, the United Nations Commission for Refugees in Geneva also issued a warning of growing risk of mass death from starvation among people living in conflict areas, including Nigeria.