 The Syrian inflation in Nigeria is affecting some more than most and the people I'm talking about is the two million displaced Nigerians in the northeast and to speak more about that we've invited the communications coordinator ICRC Mr Robin Waldo. Good morning, thank you for joining us. Good morning, thank you for having us. All right before we drive straight into the conversation we have a report to play for you that encapsulates what we're talking about. Take a listen. Now that was one of the intelligently displaced persons talking about the plight that he's going through right now in terms of the cost of you know products and foodstuff. Mr Waldo you have been you know speaking and engaging with displaced persons in Nigeria for a while now. Tell us how bad the humanitarian situation is in the northeast. Thank you for having us again. What we know is that there's over two million people who are displaced because of the conflict in the northeast. The fighting has caused people to flee from their homes and they're faced with a difficult situation because they're living in makeshift camps and some of these camps have scores of thousands of people who have no access to adequate shelter or food or water. All right so tell me how hard is it for them to access food in those IDP camps? See these people have fled from their homes and their places of origin. They do not have access to their livelihoods so where they were they had homes and they had also jobs. Some of them were farmers and cannot farm the land anymore while others had small businesses but had to leave everything behind to flee so where they go there is actually nothing for them. They are there in a situation that is not very good. So whose responsibility should it be to ensure that these people are fed daily and clothed? As IDPs do they also need to work to fend for themselves or should it be the government's responsibility? I think the responsibility for every one of us is to take care of ourselves like you do like I do like most families do but these people are in a difficult situation because of the conflict that is going on and as the international committee of the Red Cross we are a humanitarian organization which assists people like them who are affected so we provide them with food, water, sanitation, health care all the needs so our role is to step in when we meet these kind of displaced people all over the world not just in Nigeria that's what the ICRC does. In the absence of organizations like yours what would be their fate and can you paint a picture also of what you know the inflation is doing to you know the job that you have to do? As I mentioned these people do not have access to their livelihoods because they left their farm lands or their small businesses so they try to fend for themselves in as much as humanitarian organizations such as the ICRC and others are providing them with aid so we provide them with the basic food we provide them with water, sanitation, health care but some of them try to do small businesses and sell a few things here and there do some work like housework and things like that helping people so that they can earn money to help their families now these livelihoods that they are trying to make are very difficult simply because they are not in an ideal situation but the economic situation that affects them as well has had a dire impact on them because of the raising inflation the prices are going up of food staffs and those who are doing business cannot be able to earn as much as they were earning before so they are in a difficult position we try to help them to earn livelihoods also by trying to help them to set up small businesses providing them with grants and things like this. So you are providing grants to IDPs to make sure they survive and earn a living are you getting grants from the government? No our relationship with the government is we are hosted in a area like in many countries where the ICRC is invited to work to assist people who need to work we work closely with the government with the federal ministry of health with the hospitals and primary health care clinics so we do talk to the government and we work effectively with them to provide where we can because this is our mission to assist people who are affected by conflict. And what exactly is the current situation you know we've you know brought in a conversation concerning inflation and how the high cost of food stuff seems to be making this more difficult can you share with us you know what what it currently looks like? Indeed as prices go up people who are doing small businesses will see that they cannot be able to buy as much as they could before meaning they cannot sell as much as they could meaning that they cannot earn as much as they could before this means that their earnings go down and they will have to have more creative ways to earn so they would like to be able to do for their families like normal people in their places of origins too but because of this situation the economic impact of their rising prices make it difficult also for families to survive families that are depending on a small income that supplements the aid that is provided by organizations such as ours have to struggle sometimes the children might be able to eat while the parents go hungry in order to have adequate food for their families so this is a reality we are meeting people in the IDP comes who are faced with this exact situation that I have just mentioned. So it's sad that you know what armed conflicts has done for Nigeria and how it has created as much as over two million people who are displaced but organizations like yourself the ICRC is trying to do their best to make sure that these people get food shelter clothing and every other support that they need but looking at the bigger picture what likelihood do you see of these displaced persons moving away from these IDP camps where they lack you know facilities like hygiene and all of that to be resettled to their homes. I think that is the best thing we would like for these people to return to their homes when there is peace and it has prevailed and they are able to live there and continue to live out their lives like they should. Unfortunately the situation is not that easy. There is still insecurity in many Arab beers and the conflict is still raging so people fear to go out to these places so being returned home depends on many factors. First and foremost is the security situation and this is something that is out of the hands of these people but in the hands of the parties to the conflict. Okay and you know can you paint a picture because we're running out of time can you paint a picture for us of the things that or the kind of food stuff you know that we're talking about here that you need to provide is it you know rice beans yams you know what exactly? I think you mentioned some of them already rice beans yams we also provide seeds for those who can do farming so that they can be able to plant them. We also provide high nutrient food for mothers and lactating mothers and pregnant women so that they can be able to be nourished and so that their children can have better health. So we are providing what is needed by the people and I'm talking about providing it for scores of thousands of people just since the year began we've provided for over hundreds of thousands of people who were displaced and that's what we do. We are also doing assistance to help them to farm their own lands and produce this to farm lands where they can be able to produce because those are not their own lands sorry. All right Mr Robin Holder you are the communications coordinator of the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC. Well thank you very much for helping us explain the plight of the IDPs also use this medium to call on the government and all the NGOs to come to their aid and ultimately to solve the security challenges so these people can find a place again in society. Thanks again for coming. Thank you. Yes that's it for today on the breakfast it's a lovely and wet first day morning we hope you've enjoyed every bit of the conversation we're at PLOS TV Africa on all social media platforms and our new channel at PLOS TV Africa lifestyle do follow us and engage with our content. I am Annette Felix and I am Osawa Gee, Obama, wishing you a very interesting Thursday ahead.