Urgent need of Logistics for Humanitarian Aid and Relief Operations in Nigeria
By: Chukwudumebi Affam
Tags: Logistics, Humanitarian Aid, Humanitarian, Nigeria, Logisticssaveslives

Humanitarian aid is material and logistics assistance to people who need help. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars and famines. Humanitarian logistical assistance provided for humanitarian purposes, typically in response to humanitarian relief efforts including natural disasters and man-made disaster. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity.

The natural disasters and conflicts in various parts of Africa in recent years have challenged the competency of traditional emergency relief operations. The challenges have revealed deficiencies which prompt the humanitarian relief sector to redefine the logistical activities that can meet the needs of humanitarian relief operations. “the process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow and storage of goods and materials, as well as related information, from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of meeting the end beneficiary’s requirements”. Humanitarian logistics is an umbrella term for a mixed array of operations. Delivering humanitarian aid can, therefore, be seen as a substantial global industry. Every government in Africa is involve in relief operations and might be donor and recipient of operations.

Humanitarian logistics is different from business logistics management in that in the former demand is unpredictable in terms of the timing, location of demand, the type of goods and services demanded as well as quantity of demand.

In a time of disaster, the most necessary things are human rescue and basic needs of people, food, water and medicines. The ability of rescue team or government to deliver food, medicines and services to the affected locations relies heavily on transportation network. Advances in technology also allow firms to analyze their delivery networks and develop a route that will serve the item in the affected place. Here the necessary things for relief operations food, medicines etc. are transported to the place of need which adds value in these goods and services from the warehouse where it had no value. The main focus of disaster relief operation is to transport first aid materials, food, equipment, and rescue personnel in time.

Transportation is subjective by many logistics activities. Means of transportation also affect the cost and lead time. Means of transportation are air, road, and waterways. In a disaster relief operation, relief materials ordered can be placed locally by the manufacturer and then transported to the warehouse via truck or airways. Emergency ordered are also placed internationally to donor country or from United Nations and transported via air transport. Emergency orders have a much shorter transportation time than normal orders, but carry higher shipping costs. Once the supplies have reached the airport from the production area, they are sent to the field of relief operation where they are received and recorded, at the distribution centers. Distribution centers receives good in pallets and big boxes, then they are break into the normal or consumption size, which adds value to the goods in terms form utility, from bigger form to consumption size in humanitarian relief operation base, which is possible via only transportation. Then it is distributed to affected people. Transportation also helps rescue team to be in operation field where they provide their service.

When disaster strikes, the emergency plans of regional actors come to action in immediate response. Some disasters such as flooding occur more often in less developed cities, which from the outset struggle with inadequate infrastructures and a lack of transport connectivity. The nature of most disasters demands an immediate response, hence supply chains need to be designed and deployed at once even though the knowledge of the situation is very limited. The supply of rescue team and necessary items in an operation via transport logistics makes it easy to get there in time and help the people affected by disaster. At the place of disaster people are in need of help, to provide help for helpless people operation team needs to be there as soon as possible. For that purpose, transportation helps a lot which adds value in the circumstances of disaster to rescue people, move food and medicine products to the field in time where these items are distributed among the people.

Conclusion:

Today, over 4 million people in Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa require urgent humanitarian aid especially residents in the North-Eastern Nigeria which is due to continued insecurities in the region. Around two million people have been displaced in Nigeria’s north-east and the humanitarian situation is worsened by the adverse impact of climate change. The urgency of the situation remains high and a number of aid organizations have helped to address the difficulties communities face. Internally displaced people’s camps are also dotted with humanitarian agencies. Humanitarian organizations and volunteers are doing everything possible to deliver aid.

I believe engaging the supply chain community for a unified humanitarian relief logistics service that will serve as a primary point of industry contact for disaster relief support and establishes an efficient process for providing the necessary goods and services will eliminate difficulty in accessing needs for supply chain expertise, products, equipment and services such as transportation, warehousing and material handling as it aims to motivate people, the right people, in the right place, in the right time as soon as possible to deliver maximum relief and reduce suffering.

Plans must be drawn up now to fill the delivery service delivery gaps humanitarian organizations, government and stake holders face in effective delivery of humanitarian aid across the country. The time to start is now!

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