Boko Haram Killings: Nigeria, Germany, Norway Meet In Berlin

Nigeria, Germany, Norway With UN Covey At Berlin Conference.

Nigeria, Germany, Norway, and the United Nations have converged in Berlin for a “pledging conference on Boko Haram” slated to hold today and tomorrow.

The Berlin Conference is jointly organised by the three countries and the UN, and is one of the 2018 largest pledging conferences for the Lake Chad region.

The conference will focus on humanitarian assistance, civilian protection, crisis prevention and stabilisation for the region, as well as seek to raise funds for the humanitarian requirements totaling $1.56 billion.

The pledges at the conference, would help provide humanitarian assistance for the Northeast Nigeria and parts of Niger, Chad and Cameroon, ravaged by Boko Haram insurgents.

Naija News learnt it would also discuss the perspectives of civil society, their concerns and contributions, as well as how to strengthen collaboration between the affected countries and organisations involved in responding to the crisis.

Representing Nigeria at the Berlin conference is  a team led by Nigeria’s Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN, Prof. Tijjani Bande.

The Nigerian envoy said recently that Nigeria had developed a 6.7-billion-dollar robust plan of action for the reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement of Northeast, devastated by Boko Haram activities.

“The Berlin Conference on the Lake Chad has been slated for the first week of September 2018 and would build substantially on the outcome 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 needs, to concrete sustainable developmental projects capable of substantially elevating the lives of the majority of people in the region,” Bande said.

The UN had also said that it would have provided assistance to no fewer than 6.1 million people affected by the Boko Haram crisis in Northeast Nigeria by the end of 2018.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, said at a recent event in New York, that Nigeria was still facing a crisis of global magnitude.

“The figures are alarming – 10.2 million people affected in three states in Northeast Nigeria, 7.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.”Our 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan was developed to provide assistance for 6.1 million people requiring slightly above a billion dollars in 2018,” Kallon said.