The World Bank has allocated 800 million dollars to Northeast Nigeria to address poverty issues the region is battling with.
The UNDP Country Representative, Fatma Samoura stated this in a meeting with government officials at the Borno State Government House.
The humanitarian, who is in Maiduguri for a 2-day visit said that the UNDP is interested in making contingency plans against the coming rainy season and issues around resettlement of the internally displaced in their original homes.
“We are going very close to the rainy season and with the rainy season comes epidemic outbreak. The UN would be ready to support all the government and local agencies’ efforts to prepare contingency planning to avoid the situation of last year where several cases of water diarrhoea was reported,” Samoura stated.
The Country Representative said that the UNDP is finding it difficult mobilizing resources for Nigeria in view of the crisis situation in other parts of the world which she said is costing traditional donors a lot.
She appealed for support from government at all levels, explaining that the humanitarian response plan at the moment is 10% funding as the country office has so far received only 24 million dollars out of the $248 million budgeted for northeast Nigeria for the year 2016.
Meanwhile, the Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima wants donor agencies to do more to empower local people whose sources of livelihood have been lost in the insurgency.
About 157 displaced people live in makeshift camps in Maiduguri while nearly 1.6 million others have opted to live with relatives.
Governor Kashim said that the Borno State government is investing in Agriculture by empowering women living in the country side to embrace livestock farming as they return home.
The Governor listed illiteracy and extreme poverty as the underlying causes of insurgency, noting that the core issues must be addressed if the insurgency problem must end.
