Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has established a humanitarian and poverty alleviation trust fund, hence, seeking urgent international support to address the nation’s issues.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, made the announcement on Friday at the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States.
According to Edu, 30 percent of the funding is expected to come from the Federal Government while 70 percent is expected from agencies.
She said: “Lots of commitment is needed at all level to see that Nigeria is able to overcome its challenges especially as it has to do with persons who are affected by humanitarian crisis, where we have about 16 million registered persons that are affected by humanitarian crisis.
“And suffice to say that this number might actually be doubled because there are persons who are affected but they are not registered and they live within communities and have not come forward for formal registration.
“So, we might be dealing with close to 35 million persons that are directly or indirectly affected by humanitarian crisis.
“I would want to state a couple of things. The first point is that Nigeria needs as a country to have support from the UN at all levels to see that we can meet the needs of our citizens.
“We also need the support of all the UN agencies that are in the room and those who are operating in Nigeria, even those who are not operating in Nigeria.
“It’s time for you to put boots on the ground and support Nigeria all the way and we need to do this in a more coordinated and strategic manner.
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Stating that the fund would have several governing caders with a structure that would show accountability and transparency, she said: “Thirty percent of the funding expected in this trust fund will be coming from the government of Nigeria, and is expected that the rest of this funding comes from other nations, the United Nations, donor agencies, philanthropic individuals, private sector, who we want to bring fully into the space amongst other forms of innovative fundraising.
“The essence is for us to be able to adequately address the issues which we face on the ground as a matter of urgency.
“I’m sure we already know that the president declared a state of emergency on food security in Nigeria, he equally had a state of emergency on other things like humanitarian crisis and our ability to provide durable solutions.”
Edu said the government was counting on the support of the international community and development partners to provide adequate support in tackling poverty in Nigeria.
“And as we make plans to come in and address this need, what must be key at the back of our minds is providing durable solutions.
“We must be able to address education for these persons, we must be able to address their livelihood, we must be able to address their reintegration back into communities, we must be to address their resettlement, including the provision of proper shelter for them to stay in.
“We must be able to address their GPV needs amongst other things and we’re counting on your support,” she added.
Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, welcomed the initiative, saying it would take more than the efforts of the government to tackle humanitarian issues.
