The Honourable Minister Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Nentawe Goshwe Yilwatda, has assured the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of increased partnership for the benefit of vulnerable citizens in the country. He gave the assurance when the delegation led by the Country Representative, Arjun Jain, paid a courtesy visit to the Ministry in Abuja.
He thanked the delegation for being one of the partners of the ministry and pledged that the Ministry will do everything possible to ensure that all the goals of the United Nations are achieved in the area of humanitarian assistance/response in line with the institutionalization of the core mandate of the Ministry.
Nentawe informed that working with United Nations will be a smooth transition for him having previously worked for years for United Nations in providing services such as solar installations for refrigerators and vaccine services and also in providing humanitarian assistance to IDPs such as setting up schools for IDPs and championing the voting rights of IDPs.
Speaking further, the Honourable Minister assured that the Ministry will work towards participating in the Conference on “Africa Roundtable on Private Sector solutions” billed for 28th and 29th November in Lagos and said he looks towards a deeper discussion with the organization on how the ministry will participate and have institutional memory beyond just participating. Also what the ministry will learn from it and scale the way possible in terms of budgeting, planning, integrating the programme as our core activity and having a sustainable way to do what the ministry have done thereby giving a government face to what we have done in line with the policy statement of the ministry.
Nentawe recalled the release of the minors of EndBadGovernance and informed that the Ministry worked with Ministry of Justice to secure their unconditional release from prison and have met and reunited them with their parents. He said the Ministry have interacted with the Governors of various states concerned to work out how the minors will be integrated into the society and that the process of rehabilitating them have commenced.
Earlier, the Country Representative, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Arjun Jain said he was in the Ministry to seek for more collaboration in the area of addressing issues relating to Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees.
He stated that UNHCR has been in existence in Nigeria since 1982 and disclosed that there are 122 million displaced people globally and 3 % of the number are Nigerians. According to him 3% is a significant number because Nigeria has huge impact on regional stability and global economies. “Nigeria is an important country in the region and that is why we have our presence in the country” he added.
He commended Nigeria for welcoming Refugees in Cross River, Benue, Taraba and other States. He said these people live in camps and efforts are being made with State governments to relocate them outside the camps to farmlands. This is to build up their skills and empower them in the agricultural sector.
He further disclosed that UNHCR is exploring other ways to help communities beyond single solution. These include documentation to ensure that every citizen of the state have financial inclusion, as well as Inclusion of Refugees on the National Social Register.
Signed
Iliya Rhoda Ishaku
Deputy Director Information and Public Relations
