By Abbas Bamalli
The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, in collaboration with the ECOWAS and World Food Programme (WFP), have supported 14,694 vulnerable people in Katsina and Sokoto states.
The support launched on Friday in Katsina, was part of the ECOWAS nutrition assistance and cash-based transfer vouchers, under stabilisation project phase two.
Gov. Dikko Radda, in his remarks at the launching of the programme, commended the Federal government, ECOWAS, and other partners for their support to vulnerable people in the state.
Radda acknowledged that the project would empower and transfer best practices to the state institutions during implementation.
According to him, there will be room for continuity and technical collaboration even after the expiration of the project in the state.
He assured that the state would be ready to provide a conducive environment for continuous partnership with the donor partners.
Earlier, Amb. Olawale Emmanuel, the Head/Director of ECOWAS National Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nigeria, said that for over a decade, Nigeria had witnessed serious security concerns.
According to him, the situation occasioned by activities of insurgency, resulted in unprecedented lost of lives, livelihood, displacement, including food and nutrition crisis in the country.
“The population has been forced to move many times, sometimes from being internally displaced into refugees, and so on and so forth.
“In the midst of all these very unprecedented crisis, the Nigerian government has remained resolute and steadfast in protecting the affected population and community.
“The government is making sure that the effect of the crisis does not overwhelm it and also providing humanitarian assistance, as well as post-crisis interventions,” he said.
Emmanuel said that a special solidarity fund was established in 2016 to support implementation of former President Muhammad Buhari’s plans for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the crisis affected states in the north.
“This happened at the 50th ordinary session of the ECOWAS authority of Heads of State and Governments, held on Dec. 17, 2016,” he said.
According to him, in line with the directives of the heads of state, the ECOWAS commission established the stabilisation fund with a commitment of one million dollars in its 2020 budget.
He further explained that that this was part of its commitment to supporting the Nigerian Government’s economic recovery.
“Sequel to the 2020 budget, another sum of one million dollars was approved in 2023 budget of the commission for further assistance to victims of the crisis in the North
“The 2024 stabilisation fund has also been approved, and waiting for government to kick off its implementation.
“ECOWAS is committed to our humanitarian principles, and we will maintain our assistance to Nigeria and other member states in terms of humanitarian emergency when invited to do so,” he said.
He said the commission was currently supporting displaced population, refugees, IDPs and migrants with over 1.7 million dollars in Nigeria.
According to him, to apply this assistance, we are collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Earlier, Mr Abel Enitan, Permanent Secretary of the humanitarian affairs ministry, said that the project would be impact 14,694 vulnerable populations in Katsina and Sokoto, with each having a total of 7,347 beneficiaries.
According to him, by providing nutritional support, we ensure that no child goes to bed hungry; that pregnant women have the nourishment they need, and that our elderly are cared for.
“The cash-based transfer vouchers, on the other hand, would provide families with the flexibility to prioritise their spending according to their most urgent needs, be it food, healthcare, or education” he said.
Manuela Reinfield, the Deputy Head of programme, WFP, noted that the project took off at the right time, considering the deteriorating food security, with the insecurity situations in the region.
According to her, under the programme, we intend to provide monthly cash transfer support of N11,500 to about 14,500 beneficiaries across the benefiting states for six months. (NAN)
