By Chimezie Godfrey
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has assured the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, of their commitment to support the Humanitarian Response and Poverty Alleviation with 270M USD.
They said this when the Country Representative of UNICEF, Christian Mundate, lead the Chief of Health & HIV/AIDS, Eduardo Celades, to the Minister in her office in Abuja.
The UNICEF Chief also assured the Minister of 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 would facilitate effective coordination.
In addition, they said they would support the establishment 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, the Minister, Dr. Betta Edu, informed the delegation of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment 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 a day.
She charged UNICEF to also draw up plans towards supporting the FG on poverty alleviation. ”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 said.
The Minister who reiterated her commitment to transparency and accountability in all the processes of the Ministry, assured that engagement with partners like UNICEF would continue until Government achieves its target.
