The Nigerian Red Cross Society making giant strides-National President

The Nigerian Red Cross Society is growing stronger with firmer grip on service delivery and organizational development evidenced by number of Partnering National Societies (PNs) including the British Red Cross, the Norwegian Red Cross and Italian Red Cross currently working with the National Society, either directly or indirectly, and a host of others who have expressed strong interests to work with the Nigerian Red Cross Society in the nearest future.

This was contained in an internal memo written by the National President, Elder Bolaji Anani Akpan to show progress within the first two quarters of 2019.

The National President stated that the Statutes of the Nigerian Red Cross Society adopted in December 2018 has received endorsement by the Joint Statutes Commission of the ICRC and IFRC in Geneva with the Commission’s chairman saying “After careful examination, the Joint Statutes Commission is pleased to confirm that the text of the adopted Statutes is in full conformity with the standards set forth in the Guidance Document for National Society Statutes 2018”

Elder Anani informed that the Norwegian Red Cross, through the ICRC, is working with the NRCS on Finance Systems Development. ‘The expected outcome here is to have entrenched the best practice and consolidation of the Accounts of the Nigerian Red Cross Society of both Headquarters and Branches together’. The president said

He also informed that ‘the NRCS, with the support of the British Red Cross (BRC), convened a Roundtable with some Movement Partners in Geneva to seek support towards funding the Organizational Development (OD) costs of our National Society with a follow up Roundtable convened in Abuja.

‘‘Presently, the British Red Cross has a Country Manager embedded in the NRCS. The Italian Red Cross has a Delegate in the NRCS bilaterally. While the British Red Cross is focused on the NRCS’ OD, the Italian Red Cross is focused on Migration (including population movement) matters.

‘The BRC is also funding an international business Consultant from Germany who will be with NRCS for about two months to work with us and our Partners, KUNOCH Ltd and the Movement Partners in country, to structure our Fund Raising system along best practice lines and standards.

 ‘Some funding support has been provided towards ensuring that the OD of the NS is made ready for the consideration of the funding for the main OD Roadmap. In this regard, a number of things have been done; a number are being done; and, a number more shall be done, to get us there.’ Said the National President’

He strongly believes that ‘It is now time for us to work together to build a National Society that is effective, efficient and sustainable in service delivery and domestic fundraising.’ Thus, he charged all to be proactive in response and reporting.’ 

The National President recalled that there have been clear warnings about flooding this year. ‘This calls for the immediate activation of our Floods contingency plans. All Branches should ensure that updates on flooding are sent to Headquarters weekly. We should be able to have near real-time situations across the Country.’’ 

EU donates office equipments to Nigerian Red Cross Society

The European Union 2019 election observers group has donated office equipments worth millions of naira to the Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) in Abuja.

Making the donation on behalf of the EU, Mr Svante Yngrot, EUEOM Nigeria 2019 Field Project Manager applauded the Nigerian Red Cross humanitarian interventions in Nigeria and said ‘’this donation is to help strengthen the efforts of the Nigerian Red Cross Society to more in accordance to their mandate’’

The National President of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Elder Bolaji Anani Akpan, commended the EU for the donation, adding that the items would be of high impact on services rendered by the society and would improve effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery and reportage.

He said “the EU election observer group which came to the country to observe the 2019 general elections decided to give us some of their used and unused items after the poll.

“I believe we at the Nigerian Red Cross received the highest number of items given out, and we are grateful to the EU for that. The items will help us to improve our services, and we will do better.

“It also gladdens my heart that the little contributions and activities we make in the humanitarian space are noticed not just by Nigerians but by people outside the country.”

Anani further appreciated the over 800,000 Red Cross volunteers in the country and members of staff to have earned the society such recognition and acknowledgment. On services of the community,

he explained that NRCS was involved in various humanitarian activities, which include diseases management, rescuing victims from disasters, building collapses, and First Aid.

Others, he said, are providing counseling and psycho-social support to traumatized victims, restoring family links for displaced persons, education on nutrition for rural communities, environmental sanitation, and health sensitization programs.

He called on the public to be volunteers and members of the society to help toward responding to humanitarian needs when they arose in their various communities. He appealed to government, Philanthropists, organizations and well-meaning Nigerians to support and partner the NRCS in carrying out its mandate.

Mr. Pedro Azuogu, the Assistant Secretary General, NRCS, applauded the European Union Election Observers Committee for the donation to the society. Azuogu listed some of the items donated as furniture, electrical appliances, executive chairs and tables, 15 laptops, desktop computers, 96 communication gadgets, stationeries, and money saves. He said” we want to commend the EU for the donation; it will make our activities gain a higher level of effectiveness.

‘’One of our mandates is to respond to emergencies, irrespective of the magnitude and nature.

 “We have 37 branches in Nigeria and over 800,000 volunteers, the items would be distributed to other branch offices for a better and swift response to disasters.

“We call on government, Nigerians, and organizations to show concern and support the activities carried out by the Nigerian Red Cross Society; we are driven by humanitarian need, the red cross stands for humanitarian activities.”