Nigeria’s federal government on Wednesday urged the United Nations (UN) to assist the country in accessing long-term funding to address humanitarian challenges associated with internal displacements.
Minister for Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Abubakar Bagudu, made the plea during a roundtable on Humanitarian Development, Peacebuilding Approaches to Durable Solutions for Internally Displaced Persons in Abuja.
The minister urged the UN to assist the federal government in accessing long-term funds to find sustainable solutions to internal displacements.
He noted that if the federal government had access to $10 billion at four per cent interest rate, it could be used to address the country’s humanitarian challenges, generating wealth for internally displaced persons.
He said that funds could be obtained from the capital market for long-term investments to address humanitarian issues, emphasising that development partners’ funding was no longer sustainable as grants were decreasing.
Bagudu stated that the federal government’s macroeconomic policies were designed to curb waste and enable the three tiers of government to handle developmental issues better.
He said that increased revenue to the states was intended to enable them to address developmental issues, such as infrastructure provision.
The minister said the Renewed Hope Ward-based Development Plan and the Solutions for the Internally Displaced and Host Communities (SOLID), initiated by the President Bola Tinubu administration, would help address humanitarian challenges by mapping economic opportunities across the country’s 8,809 wards for scale-up.
In his contribution, Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, stated that durable solutions in the country must evolve from response to prevention, from donor dependency to national leadership, and from fragmented action to whole-of-government accountability.
According to him, “Nigeria’s humanitarian response is experiencing a steep reduction in external funding, threatening programme continuity and the scale of operations.”
He praised the collaboration between the government and development partners, explaining that it would transform the humanitarian burden into opportunities for inclusive development and national stability.
However. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr. Mohammed Fall, praised the federal government for its efforts in addressing humanitarian issues in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, and other states in the North-East region.
He promised that the UN will continue supporting the government in addressing the humanitarian challenges facing the country, adding that the internally displaced must recover their dignity and get back on their feet.
The roundtable was also attended by representatives from the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), and the Office for Strategic Preparedness and Resilience (OSPRE).
James Emejo
About the Author
