The United Nations office in Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to support Nigeria in ending all forms of unrest and easing the impact of climate change on the country.
The UN has also promised to promote the well-being of the people and good relations among member states, so as to ensure that poverty is reduced and livelihoods are improved.
This was disclosed during a two-day exhibition in commemoration of the United Nations Day, at the UN House, in Abuja, with highlights on the impactful work done by UN agencies and staff across Nigeria.
The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mathias Schmale, who was represented by the Acting Resident Coordinator, Dr. Walter Mulombo, acknowledged the challenges in maintaining peace around the world and explained that the exhibition showcased the breadth and depth of projects implemented by the UN system around the country.
’’Thus, on this day each year we the people of the United Nations reaffirm our commitment to the organization’s ideals and values and renew our mission to secure peace and prosperity for all of humanity.
In this corner of the world, the UN remains a committed partner to the Government of Nigeria. This exhibition shows the strength of our partnership and the progress made under the UNSDPF from 2018 until 2022.
We shall soon jointly sign a new Cooperation Framework re-establishing our strong support to the Government and the Nigerian people which will guide our work together for the next five years.’’ Mathias Schmale, said.
Mathias Schmale said that “the theme for this year’s UN Day is, thus, an apt one: “The UN and Nigeria: Partner for Peace, Prosperity and Sustainable Development.” explaining that the 2030 Agenda is a shared roadmap for meeting and achieving the development aspirations of Nigerian people, while also reinforcing the ideals and values of the UN Charter.
“Our vision is to leave no one behind, especially the most vulnerable, and that all the people of this country contribute to and benefit from inclusive rights-based development. Through transformative initiatives, we can catalyze a more peaceful and prosperous Nigeria. In the past month alone, the UN has produced some notable outcomes: the response to devastating floods by IOM, FAO, WFP, and others; the UNDP’s close partnership with the Benue State Government in establishing a peace and reconciliation commission; and the Nigerian President launching the ‘Integrated National Financing Framework’ to improve SDG funding with the support of a number of our agencies.’’ Mathias Schmale said.
With the challenge of flooding in the country, Dr. Mulombo, noted that the UN was collaborating with NEMA for the implementation of disaster risk management. “We need to do more, accelerate and focus on implementing a human-based approach, we have already deployed our team to various states and a number of interventions are on the way through our colleagues from UNICEF, WHO, UNFPA, and others. What we do to the affected in such a situation, we support the host government, the affected state and the Federal government to implement the disaster management plan. We are already in touch with NEMA and working with them to assess the need while responding, we already have our team on the ground performing the risk assessment, just to mitigate the impact of those outbreaks, should they occur. We are working with the government at all levels
Commendation
The UN Nigeria staff were commended for their courage, resilience, dedication and commitment to fulfilling the mission and mandate of the United Nations despite the many challenges they regularly face over the past year.
To commemorate the day at the UN Headquarters in Abuja, students from some private secondary schools were present to learn more about the United Nations as its different agencies held an exhibition.
Through the exhibition, students had an opportunity to inquire more about the activities of UN agencies in Nigeria
Olusola Akintonde
