The Nigeria Red Cross Society (NRCS) and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI) have collaborated to provide healthcare services to refugees in Kano State.

The NRCS secretary general, Abubakar Kende, who disclosed this at a meeting with a representative of the refugees on Friday in Kano, said the collaboration on the medical outreach was to motivate refugees across the state.

“We have agreed to partner to provide basic healthcare services to get treatment for free,” Mr Kende said.

He said that the Red Cross would make the payment available and provide basic needs at primary healthcare as part of their contributions to the partnership.

Mr Kende said the society had, in the past five years, been able to manage and provide healthcare services and support to over 70,000 refugees in Nigeria on behalf of the United Nations.

“Instead of refugees being reduced globally, they are increasing due to incidents happening across the globe.

“In 2023, we agreed with the United Nations to see how we could make similar operations to support refugees,” he said.

The NRCS secretary general said that millions of hours of work are currently underway to combat the issue of violence at the international level.

“These people are first migrants, and nobody loves to leave his or her country, but migration is making life difficult due to the challenges of adapting to another country,” he added.

Mr Kende appealed to the general public to be peacemakers and one’s brother’s keeper.

Similarly, the coordinator of NCFRMI, Luba Liman, said the health issues of refugees should be treated through primary healthcare services.

“We have selected some specialists and teaching hospitals for the partnership while we also empower them to be able to fend for themselves,” she said.

Ms Liman disclosed that the refugees have been in Kano since 2014, living in various places.

One of the representatives of refugees from Central Africa, Idris Ibrahim, thanked the Nigerian Red Cross and state government for their kind gesture.

Mr Ibrahim decried the high cost of house rent and pleaded for government support to assist them with residential houses.

40 representatives from Central Africa, Lebanon and Sudan, among others, were in attendance.

(NAN)