Chairman, House Committee on Internally Displaced Persons, Migrants and Refugees, Honourable Muhammad Umar Jega has said that they (House of Reps members) are working on the same page with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the Refugee Commission to enhance the condition of Internally Displaced Persons and refugees in the country.
Hon. Jega who is representing Aliero/Gwandu/Jega federal constituency at the National Assembly disclosed this on Monday during his interactive session with selected journalists in Abuja.
According to him, the National Assembly and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs are working in a harmonious relationship that is why they have recorded successes in their respective operations.
He said, if the ministry and the commission were not attending to the IDPs and refugees accordingly, through their oversight function they would have sanctioned them, but insisted that they will continue to work harmoniously so that it will benefit the target audiences.
“We are actually working hand in hand with the ministry and the commission because we have to be sure that what they are doing is what is required of them and what will bring succour to those in that category,’ He said.
However, Hon.Jega emphasised the need for everybody including the government, private individuals and donor agencies to always reach out to the IDPs and the refugees when he said the issues are a very serious one, adding that these categories of persons are affected by natural disasters without prior knowledge so they need everyone to survive.
He stated that the IDPs need protection from the government and assistant so that they can have a means of livelihood. That is why he said his committee has been working round the clock to make sure the government through the ministry and the commissions are there for them.
On constituency projects, he said the National Assembly is been misconstrued by a lot of person-stressing that they are the closest arm of government to the people at the grassroots. According to him, most of the development within the rural areas were brought by them because they know what their people need and that is why they have always made it available to them.
He also opined that it is only what they (Lawmakers) take to their people that they are seeing, saying that the government doesn’t even remember those in the rural areas.
“We are mostly misunderstood by a lot of persons out there, but we are the closest arm of government to the people at the grassroots, it is only what we take to them that they are mostly seeing because the government doesn’t even bring development to them except through the constituency projects.
“For instance, in my constituency, we’ve been able to build Classrooms, we provided water pumps to our farmers, solar light and we empowered a lot of them with various skills acquisition.
“We establish a standard computer laboratory to teach our students especially now that there are computer-based exams. The most important thing is that we are getting feedback on what we’ve done to our people and it will encourage me to do more,” he said.
