The Cope and Live Mental Health Awareness Foundation, an NGO, has offered mental counseling and other services to 1803 flood-hit Maiduguri residents within the past six days.
The other humanitarian services provided by the foundation included: food, water, clothing, shelter and insecticide treated mosquito nets.
Speaking to newsmen on the ongoing Swift Intervention Programme in Maiduguri on Monday in Enugu, the Co-founder of the Foundation, Mrs Uzoamaka Nwachukwu, said that the foundation moved swiftly through its center office in Maiduguri led by its focal person Mr Ndubuisi Nwoye.
Nwachukwu, who is a certified psychologist, noted that the foundation’s focal person, assisted by four other persons, had helped administer its mental counseling and humanitarian services to bring succor to hundreds of people daily.
According to her, the foundation instituted Swift Intervention Programme in Maiduguri to bring succor to the vulnerable and the weak as well as to give hope to the affected in our center.
She said: “We were able to mobilize Swift Intervention Programme through our global reach as well as focal person on ground and other partners within hours we noticed the need for the response.
“Apart from the physical relief materials such as food, water, clothing, shelter and insecticide treated mosquito nets provided; the foundation is providing counseling against depression since the situation leads to a depressive mood.
‘Even before the flooding, we were already in Maiduguri doing the work of mental health awareness and counseling; however, the current flood situation has increased the need for more intervention on mental health counseling among the people.
“It is an unfortunate situation, we appeal to everybody to rally round our people in Maiduguri no matter how little the contribution is.”
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Nwachukwu said that lack of the basic needs such as food and shelter can affect one’s mental health and cause some level of depression and unhappiness, adding: “An hungry man is an angry man”.
The co-founder noted that the foundation was prepared to commit more resources for the Swift Intervention Programme in Maiduguri even as the number of vulnerable people in the metropolis expands daily.
“We are calling on the residents to keep hope alive and remain strong as we and millions of people within the country and globally feel their pain.
“I sincerely believe that residents of Maiduguri will come out of this situation more strong, united and resilient,” she said.
Nwachukwu called on all Nigerians and the entire globe to come to the aid of the millions of people in Maiduguri as “this is the time to show the humanity and empathy in us”.
She noted that the foundation’s centre in Maiduguri would continue to attend to the residents as much as the resources made available would carry in the coming days.
It would be recalled that the Sept. 9, 2024, flood submerged almost half of Maiduguri metropolis and led to loss of lives and property.
