Humanitarian crisis: Stakeholders call for internal solutions in Nigeria

 

Stakeholders in the Humanitarian space have called for a more realistic, effective and efficient approach to humanitarian crisis in Nigeria.

They made the call in Abuja Nigeria’s capital, at the 2025 Humanitarian Roundtable, organised by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction with support from the United Nations.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Nentawe Yilwatda said despite the trauma caused by climate change, security threats and economic shock across the country, funding remains limited.

He said there’s need for bold innovation, resilience and relentless commitment to bridging the gap between policy and the life realities to be solved.

“Our compassion alone is not enough. Our compassion must have a human face, must have an action. For too long, humanitarian policies have been designed with a best of intentions, very colorful, very beautiful, but without the agility to adapt to the ever evolving challenges on ground”,he said.

Describing the event as a defining moment in the history of Nigeria, Professor Yilwatda said he disconnect between policy and practice is not just a bureaucratic issue, It is itself a humanitarian crisis.

“Today, we affirm our shared duty to transform policies into practical and life changing solutions. Policies alone do not feed people. Policies alone can’t put a table under a hungry man’s stomach. Policies alone cannot provide shelter for the displaced. Policies alone cannot restore the dignity of that displaced person and the vulnerable in our communities, but action can do much more. Little action is better than a huge volume of policies”, he explained.

To ensure aid reaches those who are in need in the most, inking the social register to national identity numbers and geotagging all homes across the country of those who are vulnerable, Secondly, bridging policy makers and frontline practitioners, Thirdly, adopting innovative and adaptive humanitarian financing are key.

“So that if there’s any crisis, we don’t need to begin to walk around communities and taking names and asking SEMA and NEMA to give us data. But from the comfort of our offices, NCTO and other offices under my office can respond immediately.

And I’m sure if we’re also followed by a crisis that looks like the COVID-19, where people were all at home, we can respond to people, we can even provide food aids into homes that are geotagged”.

According to him, It is time to move from rigid mandates to dynamic, responsive, and a framework that evolves with the needs of those that are serve.

“The biggest crisis we have is not just the people being killed. The crisis we have is a bureaucratic crisis that does not respond to a humanitarian crisis. Every delay in decision making, every inefficiency in coordination, every shortfall in funding costs, costs the life of people”.

The Minister also harped on the need for interagency collaboration that will respond to this shortfall and the gaps from international donor

“No single entity, either government, NGO, development and humanitarian partners, or international agencies can do this alone. Our strength lies in collaboration, coordination, and shared responsibility. To achieve this, we empower local communities”.

“The era of working in silos must end. Duplication washes resources. Fragmentation weakens response.

We must unify efforts, co-share resources, and maximize impact through seamless coordination”.

He noted that focus must shift from aid dependency to local ownership, ensuring that communities have the resources and autonomy to shape their recovery and their future.

“We must create flexible financing mechanisms that allow for rapid disbursement and adaptive response, ensuring that AIDS is not stalled by bureaucratic policies, but whenever it is needed, we will all stand to be counted. Real impact requires collective action”.

He added that the Roundtable will also address issues of undignified treatment meted against all Persons of Concern.

” A future where preparedness is the rule, not the exception. A future where those in need do not wait for uncertainty, but receive immediate and dignified support”.

The United Nations Resident Representative to Nigeria, Mohammed Malik Fall said the roundtable presents a valuable opportunity to reflect, strategize, and chart a pathway toward resilience, dignity, and lasting peace in Nigeria.

He said Nigeria stands at a moment of immense potential as Africa’s largest economy, rich both in human and natural resources, uniquely positioned to lead by example, yet it’s challenged by a range of factors contributing to the ongoing humanitarian crisis across the nation.

“These include climate-related shocks such as devastating floods or droughts, as well as violent conflicts linked to insurgency and banditry.

The root causes of these crises are deeply tied to development deficits within the country.

Therefore, addressing these challenges requires not only a humanitarian response, but also a development focus on looking at the root cause of these challenges”.

He noted that these crises have triggered a breakdown in the social cohesion, particularly through widespread displacement, with more than 3.5 million people internally displaced, and close to 30 million people facing food insecurity.

He said under the leadership of the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, the United Nations is adopting a humanitarian development and peace nexus approach to address the root cause of conflict and promote lasting peace.

“This integrated approach enables us to simultaneously respond to acute emergency while addressing longer-term development and peace-building requirements”.

“The first one is a durable solution for internal displacement in collaboration with the government, private sector, international actors, civil society, and local community, we are working on the pathway for resettling displaced persons in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, and Benue State”.

He explained that the State Action Plan, launched in late 2024, encompasses a locally-driven solution to urgent humanitarian needs, longer-term livelihood recovery, and efforts to restore social cohesion in communities fractured by violent conflict.

This initiative according to him, addresses the humanitarian challenges in transition camps, supports the development needs of communities that have returned to their LGAs, and that have also been relocated to their place of origin.

“We are witnessing a shift in humanitarian and development financing. With an overall 60% reduction in global contribution to aid, over the year we have seen reductions in humanitarian financing, but the recent months have brought even more drastic cuts.It is time for us to think creatively about alternative financing”.

He pledged the commitment of the United Nations to work with all agencies particularly the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction in order to generate programs that private money and impact investors will find attractive which will support and reduce the humanitarian challenge as well as the support of poverty reduction goal.

The Head of United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNOCHA, Trond Jensen said the forum in many ways represents our shared commitment to addressing Nigeria’s humanitarian challenges through strengthened partnerships by finding innovative and new ways of providing humanitarian assistance.

He noted that the forum happens at the time the world is witnessing great changes in global politics with threats to multilateralism, and global solidarity in short supply.

“In the more than 30 years I have worked in development, peace building and with humanitarian issues, I do not think we have faced challenges of a similar magnitude.

So I hope that this forum will also be an opportunity to think anew, to think about how we reform the humanitarian system to make sure that we become more efficient, more accountable and that we never lose sight of why we are here, that we put affected people at the centre of all action”.

” Now, when I say I will only speak a few words about the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, this is because the funding that we were expecting this year is collapsing and what we are doing is that we are then setting new targets.

He narrated that with drastically reduced funding stakeholders face and will be forced to make difficult choices.

” We can only support some of those who are in need and I think it’s important here to remind ourselves that some of those who are the most vulnerable are women and girls.

They are disproportionately affected by crisis, by conflict and by natural disaster. The biggest challenge that we are facing is to make less resources go further, in other words becoming more efficient.

He emphasised that one of the challenges that the Roundtable hopes to address is identifying other sources of funding and resources, including the private sector, including the government, including others.

” When I looked at the figures the other day, globally what we are looking at, some ten years ago we asked for 16 billion dollars to help around about 50 million people who were in need globally.

This year we are asking for close to 50 billion dollars to help 190 million people who are in need.Clearly that money will not come.

” That means that we have to become innovative, we need to challenge ourselves, we need to think outside the box in terms of how we will provide assistance for all these people”.

The theme for the Roundtable is Bridging Policy and Practice for resilient humanitarian future.