![]() |
United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale |
The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale has commended the efforts of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu -led administration to tackle humanitarian crises in Nigeria.
Schmale who spoke in New York particularly commended the
launch of the Presidential Humanitarian Trust Fund by Tinubu to address
humanitarian crises in Nigeria,
“We welcome that the government under President Tinubu sees
it as their responsibility to drive preparedness and response to humanitarian
concerns,’’ Schmale said in an interview in New York on his experience working
with the Nigerian Government.
He added that the Tinubu-led administration is on track in
addressing humanitarian crises in Nigeria, despite some negative statistics in
terms of unemployment and an increase in the poverty rate.
Schmale, who was at UN headquarters in New York to attend
the Resident Coordinators retreat commended the efforts of the Government of
Nigeria on addressing humanitarian crises.
“I think that Tinubu’s administration is on a good track;
the President recently launched the Presidential Humanitarian Trust Fund and he
is asked at this trust to address humanitarian crises.
“He’s asked that this trust fund is resourced two thirds
from within Nigeria, private sector and government, each and a third
international community solidarity.
“So, we think that’s the right way to go in Nigeria, despite
some desperate indicators around poverty and so on as a middle-income country.
The Federal Executive Council had on October 24 approved the
creation of a Humanitarian and Poverty Trust Fund to raise at least a sum of
five billion dollars annually.
The goal of the trust fund is to enable the Federal
Government to respond promptly to humanitarian situations in the country.
The funds will be sourced from the Federal Government,
private and international organisations as well as well-meaning individuals.
According to him, development Agenda is very high for the
government and some people will argue you can prevent the fertile ground from
combatting violent extremism from growing if you invest in development.
“You will have heard from our leadership, the UN
Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary General and around rescuing the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agenda.
“The new government is very much up for that. We are urging
the international community to take up the request for partnership to rescue
the SDG agenda and help them accelerate development.’’
Answering questions on the security situation in the
Northeast, he said that the Nigerian military had achieved what they call
kinetic success in fighting Boko Haram.
“So, Boko Haram, again, as a summary term is weaker than it
used to be.
“Our assessment would be that they cannot sustain the kinds
of military campaigns against the military but instead, what they are doing is
inflicting violence on civilians, you know their violence has become more
unpredictable.’’
The UN envoy said the organisation had been seeing rising
numbers of civilians being killed and tortured because they do random attacks
all over the place, which also means it’s become less safe for civilians, but
also humanitarian, so that hasn’t changed.
In addition, he expressed concern over the instability in
Niger that Islamic violent extremist groups from the country might also spread
to the northeast Nigeria.
“So right now, North Nigeria I think is relatively safe and
protected from those influences as much as it can be but the region itself is
not.
“For the UN, I think it’s fair to say the influence of
violent extremist groups remains of grave concern,’’ Schmale said.
Schmale, also visited Washington, DC, where he discussed
humanitarian, development and peace building challenges and opportunities with
interlocutors from the United States.
He met with officials from the U.S. State Department, USAID,
the U.S. Institute of Peace, civil society and the media as well as senior
staffers from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House of
Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee.
He highlighted the troubling humanitarian situation in
northeastern Nigeria and the importance of international support and
strengthened partnerships to address humanitarian needs, accelerate progress
towards the Sustainable Development Goals, and combat violent extremism.
In Nigeria’s northeast, where some 700,000 children are
suffering from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition, UN colleagues –
working in support of the Nigerian Government – have managed to reach 3.5
million people with critical aid – in the areas of food, healthcare and
shelter. NAN