SAN FRANCISCO, August 14, (THEWILL) – A youth group, the Northern Youth Unity Forum (NYUF), on Wednesday, called on those involved in the distribution of relief materials to the three states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe under emergency rule not to divert the materials.
The group also asked the federal government to provide employment for members of the youth vigilante group (Civilian JTF) who have brave the odds in Borno to assist security operatives in tracking the Boko Haram insurgents in the state .
The call came on a day the Borno State Secretary of the Presidential Committee for the Distribution of Relief Materials, Muhammad Zannah Barma, disclosed that 40 truckloads of assorted grains have been received so far in the state.
He also disclosed that the materials have been distributed in three local governments of Jere, Maiduguri Metropolitan and Bama as he promised that the materials, which are being received in batches, will be distributed in the other 24 local government areas of the state immediately they are received.
Speaking at a media briefing in Maiduguri,the Borno State capital, the Coordinator of the forum, Mallam Usman Mustapha, described the gesture of President Goodluck Jonathan as commendable, but warned that political parties and politicians could rubbish it if they are allowed to start politicking with it.
Mustapha hailed the Minister of State for Agriculture, Alhaji Bukar Tijjani, for instituting a committee devoid of political consideration to distribute the relief materials in Borno State. He noted that the 19, 500 metric tons of assorted grains recently donated by the Federal Government for distribution to residents in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa were palliative meant to cushion the devastating effects of four-year Boko Haram insurgency in the three affected states in the Northeast sub-region of the country.
He also warned against the use of the N500 million being donated along with the 19, 500 metric tons of grains to achieve selfish political gain, stressing that the materials should not to be diverted or misappropriated by selfish politicians, but shared among the affected residents of the three states .
“We wish to caution all those unpatriotic political elements attempting to cause a diversion to the Minister’s commendable selfless effort in the name of opposition to desist from seeking political capital on the tears of orphans, widows; and the physically, psychologically and economically distressed.
“We tell them that it is unacceptable everywhere in the world for parties and their politicians to throw away decorum and humanism in the name of opposition by attempting to divert the relief materials and cash donation to affected residents,” Mustapha warned as he thanked President Jonathan for the relief materials and cash donations.
He assured that the youths in the Northeast sub-region would ensure that all the relief materials and cash donations reach all the affected residents in the states under emergency rule as he commended the effort of the Civilian JTF in Borno.
He implored the federal government to reciprocate what the youths are doing by providing jobs for them instead of allowing them to be misled by selfish politicians as political thugs after the crisis is over.
