Nigeria Develops $6.7b Plan For Northeast

The Federal government of Nigeria has concluded plans for the initiation of $6.7 billion “Buhari Plan of Action’’ for the reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of Northeast that had been devastated by Boko Haram activities since 2009.

Prof. Tijjani Bande, Nigeria’s Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN, inaugurated the plan at a side event tagged ‘Strengthening the Humanitarian and Development Partnership in the Lake Chad Region’, at the UN headquarters.

According to the Nigeria Envoy, the “Buhari Plan” is a comprehensive socio-economic Plan, meant to promote the humanitarian and development nexus in the country.

Bande said Nigeria was spearheading the event based on the need to promote across board collaboration and cooperation among countries of the Lake Chad region, the donors and a whole range of humanitarian and development partners.

“At our national level, the $6.7 billion Buhari Plan of Action for the comprehensive Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement of the North Eastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad represents an ambitious humanitarian cum development initiative on the part of a national government.

“It is to demonstrate its total and unshakable commitment to the socio-economic development of the entire area.

“It is unmistakably true that beyond the current challenges lie numerous prospects for harnessing the capacity of the people and natural endowment of the area to facilitate integrated regional socio-economic development.

“Therefore, the occasion of this side event and its subsequent follow up actions would present opportunity for enhancing the objectives of several initiatives on the Lake Chad such as the All Lake Chad Governors Forum which held its inaugural meeting in Maiduguri, Nigeria in May.

“Also, the Berlin Conference on the Lake Chad has been slated for the first week of September 2018 and would build substantially on the outcomes of the February 2017 Oslo Donors Conference on the Lake Chad.

“I would like to take this opportunity to call on all stakeholders to redouble efforts and commitment towards making the coming Berlin Conference on the Lake Chad of Sept. 3 to 4, 2018 a watershed.

“This is in our collective resolve to further mobilise resources and demonstrate implicit commitment to plans that will ensure moving quickly beyond the immediate humanitarian need to concrete sustainable developmental projects capable of substantially elevating the lives of the majority of people in the region.”

Bande also stressed the need for Nigeria to collaborate with neighbouring countries like Chad, donor nations and development partners as well as humanitarian and development partners.

According to him, collaboration between the humanitarian and development agencies has gained traction at the UN in recent times such that the involvement of national governments is needed to make it work.

These responses need to be bolstered by strengthened coordination at the UN level to ensure a more synergised delivery of assistance, the Nigerian envoy emphasised.

“Let me emphasise that the recharge of the Lake Chad Basin, capacity building, and restoration of livelihood, through facilitation of occupational opportunities, job creation, skill acquisition and others are central to finding lasting solution to the problem in the region.

“To realise all these would entail our collective commitment to a broad range of actions, facilitated by strong international cooperation and partnership, involving the UN agencies and development partners, like the World Bank and African Development Bank among others,” Bande said.

Magagi Louan, Minister of Humanitarian Action and Disaster Management of the Republic of Niger, said the political leadership from the region were working together to ensure comprehensive response to the crisis in the Lake Chad.

The event, sponsored by Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Chad, UN Development Programme and UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, also featured presentations by UN Humanitarian Coordinators for the four countries. (NAN)