President Muhammadu Buhari was on Monday decorated as the Grand Patron of the Nigerian Red Cross Society.
The president who received the organization at the presidential villa, Abuja, promised to assist the Red Cross to acquire a land space in Abuja for its permanent office.
President Buhari expressed appreciation to the Nigerian Red Cross Society for its philanthropic support to Nigeria and its people during the civil war, other emergency situations.
He also thanked the organisation for its assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Northeast region of the country.
He said: “I have taken note of your logistics, especially your (request for) office here.
“I assure you that the government will do its best when you decide to build such facilities in terms of securing an area here within the Federal Capital Territory and we hope you will not do the Nigerian ways of doing things.
“To use the words of famous Nigerian Minister ‘I hope you will not build an elephantine headquarters’ which is going to be functional because we have seen your activities throughout the country.”
He recalled the sacrifice of the Red Cross during the Nigeria civil war, saying that former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon restrained the federal forces from fighting Biafran soldiers.
He said: “Earlier in my profession, during the civil war, I know how much sacrifice members of the Nigerian Red Cross and their international counterparts did both in the real front of operations and at the rear, on both sides. I think it is a lot of sacrifices because anything can happen to you in the operational areas.
“The risks they faced were real and I admire their courage and commitment to helping people who were in distress and were virtually in millions. Those photographs of people from the Biafra enclave spoke a lot.
“I remember with nostalgia the performance of the Commander-in-Chief, General Gowon. Every commander was given a copy of the Commander-in-Chief’s instructions that we were not fighting enemies but that we were fighting our brothers. And thus, people were constrained to show a lot of restraint.
“The international observer teams were allowed to go as far as possible within and outside the front and I think this was generous and very considerate of General Gowon. He is a highly committed Nigerian,” he stated.
In his remarks, the National President of the Society, Mr Bolaji Anani, said the society which was registered as an independent national society in 1961, had over 800,000 trained volunteers based in communities across the 774 local government areas of the federation.
He stated that the society’s interventions included responses to cases disasters, disease outbreaks, displacements and providing succour and psycho-social support to victims of dehumanization.
He called for the review of the Nigerian Red Cross Society Act which he said had not been reviewed since it was passed in 1960.
Bolaji said: “A review is long overdue. We note with pleasure that the current National Assembly is in the process of doing that. In fact, the revision has already undergone public hearing.
“We hope when the revised Bill is passed by the National Assembly it will be to be graciously assented to by Mr President.”
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