Former chairman of the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mrs Farida Waziri has charged
well meaning Nigerians and friends of the country to step out and give a
helping hand to victims of flood ravaging parts of the country.
Waziri made the call on
Monday October 22, 2012 when she led some international organisations to donate
relief materials such as drugs, foodstuffs, water, mattresses, cloths and
others to flood victims in Makurdi, the Benue state capital.
The former EFCC boss had
on Sunday, October 21 led top officials of her Non-Governmental Organisation,
NGO; Women, Youths, Children and Crime, WYCC and its partners; Helping Hands
Foundation, HHF, Primus International Super Specialty Hospital and others to
visit the affected areas and relief camps before handing over the relief
materials which were received on Monday by the state deputy governor, Chief
Steven Lawani who led members of the state executive council to welcome Waziri
and her team.
While presenting the
materials, Waziri quoted former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill who
once said “you make a living by what you get, but you
make a life by what you give” to challenge other Nigerians, organisations and
friends of the country to stand up and identify with the victims of the flood
disaster.
According
to her, “I am encouraged by the fact that I know I can contribute, and I
therefore believe I can volunteer my contribution. This is equally in the
spirit of the call by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan that all Nigerians and
organisations both local and international should give a helping hand to
governments at all levels to alleviate the sufferings of those that have been
affected by this natural disaster.
“As
someone committed to service, I believe that in or out of government, we should
strive to make a contribution to better the lives of others. As a result, we
have to reach out to other like minds who have given us drugs, food stuffs,
cloths and other materials necessary for the wellbeing of children and women
especially.
We have gone round the three camps yesterday, Sunday and We want to
commend the Dr Gabriel Suswam led government for doing the needful for the
displaced persons especially the clinics established to cater for the people
living in the camps to avoid an outbreak of epidemic which often follows
disasters like this. We are very glad to see the clinics and with this in
place, there is a good channel of proper administration of the drugs we have
brought and the ones others will bring.
“This
little effort we believe is the only way we can overcome the tragedy of an
immense disaster like this. We need to pull together little efforts and
contributions like this so that as a nation we can help our fellow citizens in
great need. Now is the time when the risk to remain in our comfort zones and
look the other way when our people are in pains and agonies can be more painful
than the cost of making a contribution and offering a helping hand.”
In his
response, Deputy Governor Lawani thanked Waziri and her team for identifying
with the displaced persons.
“We have
received a couple of donors but this is the first time we are having a
foundation like this come to support us. Because of the nature of what your
organisation is doing, the state government will like to partner with you on
how to resettle the victims. Your visit today is a good omen for us because we
just learnt that President Jonathan will also be visiting us this week”, he
added.
On
Waziri’s team were Beverly Nelson, Delitta Whitfield and Louisa Walter of
Helping Hands Foundation; Dr Nilesh Vishwakarma and Dr Jojo Vaighue of Primus
Hospital among others.
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