National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) has distributed various personal protective items against COVID-19 spread to refugees in Ogoja, Cross River State.
The items, including; face masks, hand sanitizers, soap and buckets, were distributed for the benefit of persons at refugees settlements in Adagum, Adagum 3 and Ukende respectively.
Federal Commissioner of NCFRMI, Senator Basheer Garba Mohammed, in a statement by the head of Press and Public Relations in the organization, Abdul A. Onu, said the items were meant to help the refugees improve their personal hygiene and to protect them from the ravaging coronavirus.
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The Commissioner, who was represented by the Deputy Director, Planning, Research and Development in the Commission, Mrs Mama Edet, further stated that “the refugees have become part of us and we have to do everything possible to protect them.”
A total of 18,891 refugees benefited from the gesture.
Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ogoja, Mr Mulugeta Zewdie, commended the Commission for the timely intervention which he said would surely impact the rising number of refugees positively.
He stressed that UNHCR, as the global body charged with ensuring the wellbeing of refugees worldwide, would continue to partner with the Commission towards achieving a common objective.
According to him, there are about 70,000 refugees in Cross River State.
The team of officials from the Commission and its partners also inspected facilities in the settlement to determine areas where intervention would be necessary, according to the statement.
Cross River remains the only state without a reported case of coronavirus in Nigeria.
Kogi state was the other state without a confirmed case until on Wednesday when the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) confirmed two cases of the virus.
Also, Nigeria reported 389 new cases of the virus same Wednesday, bringing the total of confirmed infections in the country to 8,733.
The figure is the highest daily cases so far reported since the beginning of the outbreak in the country.
