Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and International Women Communication Center (IWCC), under the UN Habitat World Urban Campaign have expressed readiness of collaboration to promote and strengthen the UN-Habitat intervention programmes and projects in Nigeria.
Programmes, particularly in the area of socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities, implementation of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG), and the New Urban Agenda would receive deserved attention.
Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Abdullahi Tijjani Gwarzo gave this assurance when he received a delegation from the International Women Communication Centre (IWCC), led by its Executive Director, Dr. Hajiya Limoto Goroso Giwa on a courtesy visit to the Ministry, Thursday, April 18th, 2024.
IWCC is a UN-Habitat stakeholder organization founded by a group of women rights activists with the mandate to disiminate the implementation of the UN-Habitat agenda at the community level, protects and promotes women rights and carry out advocacy activities.
Gwarzo, in his remarks reiterated the primary mandate of the Ministry to provide adequate and affordable housing in both urban and rural areas in a secure, healthy and decent environment for all Nigerians, pointing out that it was also one of the cardinal focus of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration in actualizing the renewed hope agenda.
He stated that the Ministry plans to bring the mandate to reality through multi-stakeholder and institutional engagements, alongside collaborations with both local and international development partners.
“The Ministry is therefore a willing partner and ready to find mutually beneficial points of collaboration with your organization for the greater good of our country and citizens” he said.
Accordingly, Gwarzo recalled the inauguration of the Habitat Advisory Committee in October 2022, stressing on their responsibilities to assess the progress and current status in the implementation the New Urban Agenda and related targets of SDGs and advise the Ministry on the way forward; to facilitate the preparation of the Voluntary National Report on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda and the related SDGs in Nigeria, among others.
Earlier the Executive Director of the IWCC Dr. Hajiya Limoto Goroso Giwa, expressed happiness that Nigeria is taking the lead in the UN-Habitat, being the chair of the executive board.
She appealed to the Honourable Minister for Nigeria to host the 2024 Urban October and also as the UN-Habitat Executive Board Chair to support the delegation at the 12th World Urban Forum which would be held in Cairo, Egypt.
Dr Giwa also explained that the World Urban Forum which aims at accelerating the achievement of urbanization would this year focus on six focus areas namely: housing our future, cities and climate crisis, financing localization and localizing finance the issue of urban agenda, putting people first in a digital era, amongst others.
The Executive Director also encouraged Nigeria to take the lead in the African Regional Meeting coming up in Ethiopia and also at a high level meeting in New York on the 14th of July to discuss the SDG 9 and 11 which focuses on human settlement.
Badamasi S. Haiba
Director Information and Public Relations
