The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said it has earmarked $270 million to support humanitarian response and poverty alleviation in Nigeria.
The Country Representative of UNICEF in Nigeria, Christian Mundate, made the commitment when she led the Chief of Health and HIV/AIDS, Eduardo Celades, on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu at the ministry’s headquarters in Abuja on Tuesday.
According to a statement issued by the ministry’s Deputy Director of Information, Ms. Rhoda Iliya, and made available to DN-NEWS, UNICEF also pledged “technical support to build capacity of the Ministry’s staff as well as support the development of a Humanitarian Response Protocol for Nigeria to guide all Humanitarian Actors as this will facilitate effective coordination.”
In addition to the financial and technical support, Ms. Mundate assured Dr. Edu of UNICEF’s readiness to assist Nigeria in setting up of a National Humanitarian Situation Room or Humanitarian Emergency Operation Centre (H-EOC) to monitor, mitigate and prevent Humanitarian Emergencies and build resilience in the system.
Responding on behalf of Nigeria, Dr. Edu, informed the delegation that Nigeria, under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu has taken deliberate and proactive steps to tackle poverty and humanitarian crisis in the country. She charged UNICEF to also draw up plans towards supporting the Nigerian government on poverty alleviation.
He said, “Time is of essence, and we need to run at the speed of light to roll out social programs that will bring relief to the burdens of the poor. Nigerians are eagerly waiting for full implementation of the renewed hope agenda, the time for intense action is now”.
She also assured the delegation of the commitment to transparency and accountability in all the processes of the Ministry, she told them that the engagement with partners like UNICEF will continue until Government achieves its target.
Nigeria is faced with severe humanitarian needs caused by poverty – further deepened by high rates of inflation, lack of access to basic services, weak rule of law, widespread insecurity and criminality as well as the impact of climate change.
