The Director-General of the Nigerian National Emergency Management Agency Mr. Mustapha Maihaja, has denied accusations that relief materials were not distributed to states in North-east which have been worse-hit by insurgency since his assumptions of office in 2017.
He said neither state governments nor officials of State Emergency Management Agency were involved in the distribution of the materials, adding that state officials and some federal lawmakers particularly witnessed the distribution of the materials in their respective states.
NEMA had been on the spotlight following ongoing investigation by the House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness into allegations of breach of public trust.
Lawmakers said the relief agency had not transparently distributed relief materials to disaster-affected states, some of which are constituencies they represent.
However, at the continued hearing Bauchi State confirmed knowledge of the distribution of the materials but regretted that the state government was not involved in the distribution.
Earlier, representatives of SEMA from Yobe, Bauchi, Taraba and Gombe States claimed to be involved in the planning but excluded from the distribution.
Gombe State claimed that it has no Internally Displaced Persons camps and had no use for relief food materials but prefer restoration of its infrastructures.
As such, the state claimed that it was totally unaware of the distribution of the relief materials in the state.
However, in his response, Maihaja said all the said states were fully informed of the issue.