Media Trust: Raising funds for IDPs

Chinyere: We just returned from the launch. It is a pity that you travelled when the fund raising event took place. It was a huge success and I pray that the organisers will be able to redeem the pledges made by donors. Isa: I really wanted to be there?  How much was raised and who […]

Chinyere: We just returned from the launch. It is a pity that you travelled when the fund raising event took place. It was a huge success and I pray that the organisers will be able to redeem the pledges made by donors.
Isa: I really wanted to be there?  How much was raised and who were the donors?
Ayo: Which event are you talking about?
Yagana: It is the advocacy and fund raising event for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Northeast organised by Media Trust Limited, publishers of the Trust group of newspapers on August 26 2015. The event, titled ‘Advocacy and Fund Raising for Internally Displaced Persons in the North East,’ held at the Banquet Hall of the NAF Conference Centre in Abuja. It was a successful outing. About 203 million naira was raised at the event which is the first of its kind organised specifically to raise funds for the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency.
Chinyere: Isa wants to know the donors so that he can also tap them when fund raising for his community initiatives. There were several donors and the first to donate was the Chairman of the event Alhaji Umaru Abbdul-Mutallab, Chairman of Jaiz Bank Plc who donated 5million naira on behalf of Jaiz Foundation. Of course Africa’s magnate Alhaji Aliko Dangote sent his Business Manager Dr Zuwaira Yusuf to represent him. Dangote Foundation donated 100 milion naira. The governors of the six Northeast zone collectively donated 60 million naira.
Isa: Amazing! A newspaper organisation packaged this humanitarian relief event, got all these big wigs to attend and donate to support the IDPs? I feel deficient in my conceptualization of the issue. I read about the problems created by the insurgency -loss of lives and property abduction, rape, sexual abuse refugees and IDPs and it makes me sad. Yet I just imagined that it is government’s responsibility to undertake the IDP support initiatives. Now am encouraged to do something not only because my father was originally from one of these states but because it is the right thing to do.
Hafsatu: Yes. It is the responsibility of the federal government to attend to the needs of refugees through the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA. However the governments of the six north eastern states were all involved in supporting relief work in IDP camps and they all turned up at the ceremony or sent their representatives and donated funds. They include Governors Mohammed Umaru Jibrilla Bindow (Adamawa), Alhaji Kashim Shettima (Borno), Barr Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar (Bauchi), Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo (Gombe), Mr Darius Ishaku (Taraba) and Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam (Yobe).
 Ayo: Like Isa, I want to also contribute. This Insurgency is a national problem. The fact that am from Ibadan does not mean I should feel less concerned about the IDPs in the northeast. I want to contribute in kind and cash by supporting education. How can I be involved?
Hafsatu: I was at the event but arrived after the Chairman had made his remarks. However, I sat through the presentations made by the resource persons, Sheikh Abubakar Saddiq, Timothy Mshelia JP from Borno and Hajiya Bilkisu mni. They gave a good picture of the lived reality of the destruction and trauma the insurgency has inflicted on the people in the area. It made one feel vulnerable particularly when I think of the 219 Chibok girls who were abducted from a school and 504 days later we have no idea of where they are!! It could have been my daughter. For me, they represent the face of IDPs and refugees and all other victims of the insurgency. I want to participate in safe school initiatives for girls.
Chinyere: There is room for those who want to contribute. The advocacy and fund raising, was primarily to address the plight of Nigerians displaced by insurgency. It  will provide intervention in areas such as education (schools support), widows and orphans as well as empowerment. Media Trust, as the organisers intend to use NGOs with track records of community level engagement to implement the programmes.
Yagana: Those who want to contribute money can send it to accounts opened by Media Trust to handle donations. The  account details are: First Bank, 2028620800; GTBank, 0175835101; Jaiz Bank, 0001706242; Union Bank,  0045259464. The account name in all the four banks is the same, ‘Daily Trust (IDP) Relief Fund.’ The email for the fund is [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>.
There are also contact persons who can provide additional information on the  event are: Abdulrahman (08097112617,08033117458), Kabiru (08033571535)
Chinyere: Some notable non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, embassies, international donor organizations, government and corporate bodies among others have indicated interest to take active part the initiative. You can also spread the word to all those partners who work in development .There is a lot to do.
Ayo: Am really impressed with what the Governor of Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima did. I read him in the papers telling the people of his state that instead of sending him congratulatory messages on his 49th birthday on 1/9/2015, they should honour victims of the Boko Haram insurgency and his deputy who recently passed on.   In a statement by his Special Adviser on Communications and Strategy, Malam Isa Gusau, the Governor appealed to his political appointees and associates, foreign and local contractors, kinsmen and former colleagues in the banking sector, not to place any advertisement in the newspapers and other media outfits to congratulate him. He urged them to send the money to organizations in Abuja and Maiduguri, currently seeking funds to support multitudes of internally displaced persons affected by insurgency.
Isa: That is leadership for us to emulate. I will ask my friends to join me in sending our widow’s mite to the IDP fund.