House Partners Red Cross to Tackle Challenges among IDPs

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the House would collaborate with the International Committee on Red Cross (ICRC) to ameliorate the sufferings of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country.

Gbajabiamila also said the House would follow the necessary steps to domesticate the Kampala Convention on IDPs which would go a long way in addressing their plight.

The Speaker made this known when he hosted a team of the ICRC led by the Head of the organisation in Nigeria, Mr. Eloi Fillion, yesterday in Abuja.

“We’re more than happy to collaborate with you. I’m glad you’re working with my Special Assistant on IDPs. He has a lot of zeal for the work, so we always look forward to the collaboration such as this,” he said.

On the Kampala Convention, he said Nigeria is a signatory, and if the House domesticates it, then different states have to do the same.

“We’ll try and see how we can get it domesticated. You can give us the list of some of those treaties that need domestication in Nigeria. We have a committee on treaties, agreements and protocols because we know there are a lot of them. You can send us the list so that we can work on them,” Gbajabiamila said.

Earlier, Fillion said the ICRC would want to collaborate with the House in a number of areas to achieve its mandate in Nigeria.

He said ICRC would organise a workshop where all issues relating to its activities and what it seeks to achieve would be accomplished, as it seeks the cooperation of the House to execute that.