The United Nations Mine Action Services (UNMAS) in collaboration with the Centre for Social Cohesion Peace and Empowerment (CENSCOPE) and other partners said 755 people have been killed by landmine over the last six years in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States.
It urged the federal governments to expedite action to establish the Centre for Humanitarian Mine Action to enable the body coordinates its activities in the country. Humanitarian Mine Action Centre.
The National Coordinator, National Humanitarian Mine Action Committee, Group Captain Sadeeq Garba Shehu (rtd), stated this during this year’s commemoration of International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance for Mine Action with theme, “Mine Action Cannot Wait,” held in Maiduguri on Wednesday.
He said insecurity in the North East, although greatly reduced, still remained a big challenge to returning populations as it limited access to arable land for agricultural production.
Quoting UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), he said, “Since 2016, 755 civilians have been killed and 1,321 injured by explosive ordnance – an average rate of more than one civilian every day.
“Many areas remain contaminated with unexploded ordnance and will require mine risk/demining services to ensure safe access to farmland for agricultural activities,” he said.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Faruq, represented by the director of humanitarian affairs, Grema Alhaji Kadi, expressed the federal government’s concern about ensuring success in ridding all communities that had suffered insurgency of explosive devices.
Earlier, the Executive Director of CENSCOPE, Abubakar Abdullahi Suleiman, said the call to establish the Humanitarian Mine Action Centre became necessary to ensure victims of landmines and explosives devices got deserved attention.
He said if the centre is fully inaugurated they would create awareness about the dangers of landmines and other explosive devices and provide necessary assistance to eradicate them.
First published in Daily Trust