UN, Nigeria To Partner On Humanitarian Interventions

Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the United Nations agencies in Nigeria are to partner on a set of strategies for humanitarian interventions in the country.

This followed discussions on Nigeria’s priorities at the 78th United Nations General Assembly held recently in New York.

Humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation minister, Dr Beta Edu said at a meeting with United Nations officials in Abuja yesterday that the Nigerian government and the UN would strategise on areas of collaboration according to priorities presented by President Bola Tinubu at the UNGA on Nigeria’s humanitarian and poverty alleviation efforts.

Speaking with the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, in her office,  Dr Edu said; “We had to engage with the UN team in Nigeria to see areas where we can collaborate to have immediate results.

“President Tinubu put forward a pitch deck on the humanitarian and poverty alleviation interventions which he intends to implement in the country in collaboration with the UN agencies and other development partners.

“This is a follow up to the meeting which we held at UNGA, where we were part of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s entourage to the UN, he spoke on the floor of the UN and told them the priorities of Nigeria. He also had a side meeting with the UN Secretary General and his team and put forward to them the priorities of Nigeria which includes ending poverty, ensuring job security for Nigerians and providing food to end hunger in Nigeria, this aligns with the SDGs.

“We are coming up with a joint plan between the UN and the federal government of Nigeria on priority areas the UN will intervene and of course breaking it down to the technical next steps and the full implementation on ground as well as steering committee that will involve the UN agencies, different line ministries, agencies and parastatals that we will involve so that we can have a well coordinated implementation plan.”

A UN official, Mr Schmale who noted the importance of the details of the expectations of the Nigerian president, said the UN had been working on poverty and humanitarian intervention and would partner with Nigeria more on this aspect.