Nigeria’s first Lady, Aisha Buhari, has called “for all hands to be on deck” to prevent ongoing fighting in Sudan from getting worse.
Aisha Buhari disclosed this at the 10th General Assembly of the mission at the State House Banquet Hall in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
Mrs Buhari, who doubles as the President of African First Ladies Peace said: “another humanitarian window has been exposed with the sudden eruption of violence in Sudan.
The ongoing fighting in Sudan has accelerated a wave of people fleeing their homes, with the number of people internally displaced inside Sudan more than doubling in a week to more than 700,000 the U.N.’s migration agency said.
The United Nations in an internal report also indicated that 5 million additional people in Sudan will require emergency assistance, half of them children.
In her reaction to the fighting, the wife of the Nigerian leader said, :“All hands must be on deck to ensure that the problems are not allowed to escalate. This mission is open to engaging with all relevant bodies in this regard”.
The first Lady further noted that while “kinetic approaches have not been successful in ending conflicts”, she suggested other approaches to used such as “constructive engagement with wealthy individuals to create deliberate opportunities for poverty reduction,
“Engaging the media as a key player to be tasked with its agenda-setting role, educational institutions must introduce a curriculum of peace studies and promote the development of peace clubs in secondary schools. All of these companies play significant roles on their own and in various partnerships.”
At the event, Mrs Buhari revealed her achievements as her tenure as President of African First Ladies Peace Mission, comes to an end on 29 May.
“I see this as a landmark achievement in line with the mandate of advocacy, sensitization and mobilization. Considering the pressure occasioned by humanitarian crises in many countries, the mission impacts on the distribution of educational materials, food supplements, and nutritional food items aimed at supporting their efforts particularly as they affect women, children and other vulnerable groups in the society”, she said