By Philip Yatai

The Federal Capital Territory Emergency Management Department (FEMD), in collaboration with Near Foundation, has distributed meat to 150 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Abuja, to celebrate Eid-el Kabir.

Acting Director-General of FEMD, Mrs Florence Wenegieme, explained during the distribution exercise in Abuja on Tuesday, that the support was part of measures to leave no one behind.

Wenegieme said that the distribution of the meat would give the IDPs a sense of belonging, saying, “It is not everybody that can afford a ram or even a chicken.”

The acting D-G urged other organisations to emulate the good will of Near Foundation to give vulnerable people hope in life.

“Beyond reaching out to vulnerable people, FEMD in partnership with other organisations will equally build the capacity of IDPs in different skills for self-reliance.

“We pray that Near Foundation and other NGOs we are collaborating with will design different programmes for the poor and vulnerable in the FCT.

“Helping the less privileged people in our midst will give them hope,” she said.

The Programme Manager of Near Foundation, Mr Abdulmalik Bulakos, said that the partnership with FEMD was to strengthen humanitarian support for distressed people.

Bulakos said that the strategic partnership with FEMD helped the foundation in identifying the vulnerable people in FCT, particularly IDPs.

He explained that humanitarian aid was one of the intervention areas of the foundation, to reach out to poor and vulnerable people in communities, particularly with the current economic hardship in the country.

On the meat package, the programme manager said that each IDP would receive four kilogrammes of meat to celebrate Eid-el Kabir.

He said that so far, the foundation has slaughtered over 1,200 cows and distributed meat packages to more than 50,000 vulnerable residents of FCT.

“This part of the tradition of Near Foundation. It is an annual event and still ongoing, as evident with distribution of meat packages to more than 150 IDPs in Abuja,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr Mohammed Abdulrahman, Director, Relief and Rehabilitation, FEMD, described the gesture and life changing.

“This is five years now that they have been consistently doing this. Every salah, the foundation touches the lives of vulnerable people,” Abdulrahman said.

One of the IDPs in Kabusa, Mr Yahaya Hassan, said he could not afford meat for the Eid-el Kabir celebration and thanked FEMD and Near Foundation for supporting him with meat to celebrate salah.

Similarly, Mrs Halita Joseph, an IDP in Yimutu IDP Camp, equally thanked the foundation and FEMD for remembering IDPs every year during salah. (NAN)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru