“WHEN
the violence erupted, I was called up along with the rest
of the team,” says Baba Gana Isa. “Though we were
in danger ourselves, we carried on regardless and attended
to the victims.” Baba Gana Isa was one of the Nigerian
Red Cross volunteers mobilized when the Danish cartoon crisis
sparked a wave of violence in five states of Nigeria last
February, leaving dozens of people dead, hundreds injured
and thousands more displaced.
The episode was typical of the bursts of violence that have
characterized Nigeria in recent years. Often, it requires
little provocation to set off a killing spree (opposition
to the holding of the Miss World contest in Nigeria, for example),
before everything just as suddenly returns to normal. Though
it would be easy to blame the complex ethnic and religious
mix that makes up the Nigerian population, the underlying
causes are more likely to be economic. Despite Nigeria’s
huge oil revenues (it is the world’s tenth largest,
and Africa’s largest, producer of crude oil), the majority
of its citizens are impoverished owing to the uneven distribution
of resources. The worst violence is to be found in the oil-producing
Niger Delta region, where organized armed groups operate,
and in areas where there is competition for control of scarce
resources.
When clashes occur, the Nigerian Red Cross Society is often
the first on the scene, evacuating the victims and administering
first aid. The National Society also distributes emergency
relief to displaced people who have sought refuge in army
barracks, schools, churches or mosques to escape the violence.
Assistance is not confined to food and essential household
items; it can also include providing psychological support
to the confused and traumatized victims of violence.
“It was a sad experience to feel the pain of these
people,” recounts Baba Gana Isa. “But at the same
time I was happy to be able to help wipe away their tears.”
Preparing for elections
Nigeria now has an elected civilian government, but the transition
to democracy has been uneasy at times. President Olusegun
Obasanjo will step down in the first half of 2007 after serving
two terms, and the race will be on to elect a successor. At
the same time as choosing a new president, Nigerians will
vote for the governors of the country’s 36 states. Although
hopes are high for a smooth and trouble-free handover of power,
the National Society is taking no chances and is preparing
for an increase in violence in the run-up to, during and after
the poll.
“Our aim is to empower branches with the necessary
knowledge, skills and material resources to provide humanitarian
assistance to victims of election-related violence,”
says Umar Mairiga, Nigerian Red Cross disaster management
officer. The National Society is joined in this endeavour
by the ICRC.
A first step has been to assess the propensity for violence
in each of the 36 states, taking into account political, ethnic,
religious and socioeconomic factors. The Red Cross is focusing
its efforts on those states identified as having a high risk
of an outbreak of violence and has developed contingency plans
for that eventuality.
The response capacities of Red Cross branches in the potential
hot spots have also been examined and strengthened. This has
involved improving the network of Red Cross volunteers, creating
new divisions in local government areas and setting up emergency
first-aid teams. Since the beginning of 2006, over 150 new
divisions, each with its own emergency first-aid team, have
been established.
However, broadening the volunteer base is only effective
if accompanied by training. To this end, disaster management
workshops have been held, bringing together emergency first-aid
team leaders and other actors, such as relevant national and
state authorities and non-governmental and faith-based organizations.
In addition, recent training-of-trainer courses raised the
number of Red Cross first-aid trainers to 322. They can now
pass their newfound knowledge on to their fellow volunteers
in readiness for any emergency.
Creating an efficient and reactive setup is difficult in
a country like Nigeria, given its size, geography, diversity
and federal structure. The Nigerian Red Cross has therefore
divided the country into six zones: each zone has one health
and one disaster management officer, who support the branches
in their area, monitor the situation and coordinate the Red
Cross response to crises. Emergency stocks have also been
pre-positioned in the six zones, individual branches have
been supplied with protective gear, first-aid kits and stretchers,
and the high-frequency radio network has been upgraded.
Coordination with other humanitarian actors is also necessary
to improve the overall response in crisis situations and to
avoid duplication of effort. For example, in Plateau, one
of the multiethnic and multi-religious states of the Middle
Belt region, which is the scene of frequent intercommunal
clashes, the Nigerian Red Cross is an active member of the
Emergency Preparedness Team Network, a coordination platform
which greatly facilitated the mounting of an efficient response
during a land dispute in Namu district earlier in 2006.
Beyond emergency
The police and armed forces need to know about and understand
the Red Cross, if they are to ensure safe access of volunteers
to the victims of violence. The ICRC and Nigerian Red Cross
regularly conduct information sessions for police and military
officers to remind them of their obligation to respect human
rights and humanitarian principles, especially when they intervene
in situations of internal violence.
The ICRC and the National Society also maintain dialogue
with the political authorities and civil society to promote
awareness and implementation of international humanitarian
law. The ICRC supports the integration of humanitarian law
and human rights into the training and procedures of the Nigerian
armed forces and police, as well as into university curricula.
Apart from its emergency interventions, the Nigerian Red
Cross conducts community-based activities such as HIV/AIDS
prevention and care, health and hygiene promotion and skills
acquisition for youth and women.
Improving the social, economic and health environment can
help to prevent frustration and, by extension, violence. In
addition, the Nigerian Red Cross and the ICRC are developing
a new community-based violence-prevention project that will
target youth and seek to contribute to a supportive society
which rejects violence and fosters respect for humanitarian
principles.
The Nigerian Red Cross, the ICRC and the International Federation
are combining their expertise, manpower and motivation to
achieve what each cannot do singly. Emmanuel Campbell, ICRC
cooperation delegate, sums it up: “When the Movement’s
components work together effectively, it smoothes the way
for the volunteers, who are the foot soldiers of Red Cross
action, to carry out their essential humanitarian work.” |
Nigerian Red Cross volunters are ready to respond
to intercommunal violence at a moment’s notice.
GEORGE ESIRI / REUTERS, COURTESY www.alertnet.org
The ICRC and Nigerian Red Cross conduct regular
information sessions for police and armed forces.
©ICRC
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