A United Nations joint mission is in Nigeria to assess efforts being made to address the peace and security issues in the affected North East areas.
The delegation met with the representative of the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq.
Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and Sahel and leader of the delegation Mr Mahamat Saleh Annadif said the mission was to evaluate the crisis facing the Lake Chad Basin area.
“We are a joint mission mandated by the UN Security Council to conduct a joint mission in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. Last week we were in Cameroon and Chad and now we are in Nigeria. We are here to underscore the United Nations support and solidarity with these four countries’’.
Representative Mrs Umar Farouk, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Bashir Alkali indicated that the minister would grant the delegation access to make their findings on humanitarian issues in the country.
He also explained that the Ministry had established and formalised a Civil-Security Cooperation strategic framework and roadmap for humanitarian assistance for the country.
“CiSEC structure is a platform that brings key stakeholders together to deliberate on ways and means to foster understanding amongst humanitarian and security actors’’, he said.
He added that the Federal Government would cooperate with the Mission to find long-term solutions to the problems in the Lake Chad Basin.
The Delegation includes Mr Francis Louncery Fall, Special Representative of United Nations Secretary-General for Central Africa, Ambassador Mamman Nuhu, Executive Secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission and Ms Claudia Emmanuella Del Ke, Special Representative of the European Union for the Sahel.