Renowned Afrobeat musician, Femi Kuti, has urged celebrities and their fans to work with the government to help millions of people struggling to survive in Boko Haram-hit northeast Nigeria.
The Lagos-based Afrobeat star said he wanted to raise awareness among young Nigerians and encourage them to demand a greater humanitarian response, having visited Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, on Monday. “People need to have a sense of the reality in the northeast – from people walking around hungry to mothers with malnourished children,” Kuti said, during his visit.
“I hope more celebrities will visit and engage with their fans,” Kuti told the Thomson Reuters Foundation after accompanying the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on visits to local communities hosting the displaced and a health clinic.
“Then, more people will see what is going on, share it on social media, and put pressure on the government to do more.”Boko Haram’s insurgency has killed about 15,000 people and forced more than two million to flee their homes since 2009. The Nigerian army, backed up by neighbours, has retaken most areas held by the Islamist militants.
Yet the jihadist group has stepped up attacks and suicide bombings in the past few weeks as the end of the rainy season facilitates movements in the bush.
While calling on more support and aid for people in the northeast, Kuti said he was struck by the generosity of local communities towards those uprooted by the insurgency. “It is heartening to see so many displaced people welcomed into the homes of local families … and community elders offering to give up land to displaced for farming,” Kuti said.
In Maiduguri, which has seen its population almost triple to five million in recent years, there are signs a sense of normality is gradually returning to the city.
The curfew has been pushed back to 10p.m. from 6p.m. and clubs are packed and pulsating as DJs play the tunes of artists like Kuti and his late father Fela, the 1970s Afrobeat pioneer.
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