Nurses in Plateau State say they are no longer safe working in the North-East. Boko Haram has wreaked havoc in the North-East, particularly in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states since its inception in 2002.Dabit said the situation must be urgently addressed if nurses were to continue to render humanitarian services in the region.
She said as a professional body, we are not happy about the frequent abduction of our colleagues in the North-East, the recent being that of Jennifer Samuel Ukambong, an aide worker attached to the Alliance for International Medical Action. She was kidnapped on December 22, 2019, and has not been released by the terrorists.
According to our findings, quite a number of aid workers in the North-East are either citizens of Plateau State or attended school in our dear state. Recently, we received some of Jennifer Ukambong colleagues in Jos, who lamented how they felt unsafe working in the North-East.
Describing the situation as unacceptable, the nurses called on Governor Simon Lalong, who is the chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, to use his position to secure the unconditional release of Jennifer and other Nigerians still in Boko Haram captivity.
They also called on the government to look into the activities of international organisations recruiting Nigerians to work in the North-East with a view of ensuring that they complied with international best safety standards.
Dabit said, “The emotional and psychological stress our colleagues are passing through in the North-East are as a result of unemployment in the state is unacceptable.
“We call on the state government to lift employment embargo so that nurses can be recruited, while the Federal Government should provide adequate security for aid workers that are rendering humanitarian services in the North-East and other parts of Nigeria.”
source: Punch
