The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed its commitment to provide a financial injection of $270 million (equivalent to N205,821,000,000) to bolster Nigeria’s ongoing humanitarian initiatives aimed at tackling poverty.
During a visit to the office of Dr. Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, UNICEF’s Country Representative in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, affirmed this commitment on Tuesday in Abuja. Munduate emphasized UNICEF’s role as a key humanitarian player and assured that the organization remains steadfast in its support of the ministry’s efforts to enhance the well-being of Nigerian children.
In an official statement released by Rhoda Illiya, the Deputy Director of Information at the ministry, UNICEF outlined its strategic plans to not only offer technical expertise to strengthen the ministry’s workforce but also to collaborate on the formulation of a comprehensive Humanitarian Response Protocol for Nigeria. This protocol aims to streamline and enhance the coordination of all humanitarian stakeholders for more effective outcomes.
Munduate further highlighted UNICEF’s dedication to the creation of a National Humanitarian Situation Room or Humanitarian Emergency Operation Centre (H-EOC) to monitor, preempt, and address humanitarian crises while simultaneously bolstering the nation’s resilience against such emergencies.
UNICEF’s resolute commitment to Nigeria underscores the organization’s determination to alleviate poverty and uplift the lives of the country’s most vulnerable population, especially its children. This collaborative effort between UNICEF and the Nigerian government holds the promise of creating a more robust and coordinated response framework for addressing humanitarian challenges.
While responding to the UNICEF country director, Dr. Edu said “The federal government is committed to lifting 133 Million poor Nigerians out of poverty in a phased approach; especially, the 71 Million extremely poor Nigerians who live under one dollar ninety-five cents per day.”
”Time is of essence and we need to run at the speed of light to roll out social programs that will bring relieve 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 adds.
The minister said government will be transparent and accountable in all it’s processes of the Ministry and that engagement with partners like UNICEF will continue until Government achieves its target.
