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OPINION: Silver lining in northeast Nigeria crisis, by Peter Lundberg

By: Bhodemarz on November 18, 2017 / comment : 0 , , , ,

Scarcely would news events from Nigeria's northeast inspire optimism. The humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, triggered by an armed conflict, is one of the most severe in the world. Yet the determination by men, women and the young to battle and survive the adversity unleashed by the long-running violence is deeply moving. Their resolve, and over the past year, an accelerated relief assistance, are making a positive difference in a region struck by one of the world's most severe humanitarian emergencies.
Since the start of the conflict in 2009, more than 20,000 people have been killed, thousands of women and girls abducted and children used as "suicide" bombers. This year alone more than 110 children have been used as "human bombs" by the group known as Boko Haram, being forced to don vests or belts packed with explosives and blow themselves up in a crowd.  Attacks on camps for internally displaced people, market places and mosques occur on a weekly basis and spread fear among people who have already witnessed the horrors of this conflict.
This crisis has engulfed the north-east of Nigeria, a vast territory almost two thirds the size of the United Kingdom. It has also spread into neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced and in need of food, water, shelter, health care and protection. A cholera outbreak in August threatened to spiral out of control had there not been a swift reaction. Hundreds of Nigerian refugees have been flooding back in recent months, seeking humanitarian aid in areas that are already crammed with others who need help.
TALES OF HORROR
I have met many families since taking up the role of deputy humanitarian coordinator one year ago. Of the many chilling accounts of persecution at the hands of attackers I have heard, one recounted by Alhaji is etched in my mind. I met him at a run-down petrol station just outside Pulka, a small, and once sleepy town near the Nigeria-Cameroon border. He was captured alongside others when a group of armed men raided their village. The assailants went on to kill 17 of his neighbours in front of his eyes. He miraculously managed to escape and found his way to Pulka, now home to 20,000 displaced people.
When I met Alhaji, 30 and father of four, he was still searching for his wife and three of his children. While he survived, his arms are nearly paralysed from having been viciously tied up to a tree for hours. But there he was, not just hanging on, but actively trying to make the most of the support we can provide for him to be reunited with his family and rebuild their lives.
SIGNS OF IMPROVEMENT
Not all is doom and gloom. There are signs that security is returning in some areas and this is positive. Indeed, over 1.3 million people have returned home in recent months and are trying to kick start their lives, which mainly revolve around farming. These people still do rely on aid, for example seeds and tools, but will eventually resume normal life.
The task ahead remains immense with 1.6 million people still displaced and people continuing to flee violence on a regular basis. The United Nations and non-governmental organisations, at the request of the government of Nigeria, are providing lifesaving humanitarian assistance to the people who most need it. In 2017, we launched an appeal of over $1 billion to do this. Today, 68 per cent of our appeal is funded. This means we still need $350 million to protect, feed and support millions of vulnerable people. That is a staggering amount. 
I am, however, optimistic. Donors, including the U.K. government, have generously supported our work and hundreds of thousands of people are receiving food, safe drinking water, latrines, health services, vaccination campaigns, nutrition supplements, education and much more. The massive increase in humanitarian aid delivery this year is remarkable, and is helping to avert famine. But we need to do more.
As the conflict enters its ninth year, we must keep up the life-saving work. We must keep talking about what is going on in the north-east of Nigeria, both here and abroad, and the abhorrent atrocities that people endure. And we must continue to hope that peace is right around the corner. That is what will bring this humanitarian crisis to an end.

Peter Lundberg is the United Nations deputy humanitarian coordinator in northeast Nigeria.



Source: Thomas Reuters Foundation News

Boko Haram Still Controls 3 LGAs In Nigeria - UN

By: Bhodemarz on October 25, 2017 / comment : 0 , ,

At least three local government areas in Nigeria are still cut off due to the presence of Boko Haram insurgents, the United Nations has said.
The claim is coming weeks after the military command in northeast Nigeria announced that no part of Borno state was under the control of the deadly group.
But the UN said despite efforts by the military, some locations in Borno state, including three whole local government areas, remained inaccessible to aid workers as a result of the threat posed by the Boko Haram sect.
The report was issued by the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian (OCHA). It said Boko Haram hostilities that slowed down due to the rainy season might increase in the coming months.
“Insecurity, presence of mines, improvised explosive devices, and unexploded ordinances had continued to slow down the response of humanitarian agencies in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states” said OCHA’s monthly report for September 2017, titled, “North-East Nigeria: Humanitarian Situation Update”.
“Most roads to the south, south-west and east remain unusable due to security concerns and most humanitarian personnel movement is done through air assets. Cargo, however, is being transported via road with armed escorts as a last resort.”
The UN agency added that, “No humanitarian aid is currently reaching locations in these LGAs outside of the LGAs’ main towns called ‘headquarters’. Major humanitarian supply routes towards the west, north-west and north are open for humanitarians without the use of armed escorts. Following advocacy efforts, Konduga and Mafa are now also accessible to aid groups without military escorts.”
The UN said it was battling with paucity of funds due to the failure of donors worldwide to fully meet their financial commitment towards the North-east.
The director of Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, told journalists the Army would not Immediately comment on the report until it studied its details.

Source; PremiumTimes

Nigeria says UN Security Council composition outdated, demands reform

By: Bhodemarz on September 28, 2017 / comment : 0 , ,

Nigeria has again expressed its dissatisfaction with the current composition of the UN Security Council, describing it as old-fashioned and called for an urgent reform of the body.
The Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Tijjani Bande, told the correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria in New York that the current composition of the Council was undemocratic
“The Security Council is the UN’s most powerful principal organ with the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security as well as accepting new members to the UN.
“It approves any changes to its UN Charter and is vested with powers for the establishment of peacekeeping operations and the establishment of international sanctions.
“The Council has the authorisation for military action through Security Council resolutions and it is the only UN body with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.
“First of all, the fundamental question is that in the current global reality, where everybody is talking democracy, United Nations must show example.
“Clearly, it is an anachronistic notion to have a body composed of few countries that can veto the entirety of the global community through the Council.
“It is an anomaly and I think that has been recognised, but the politics of the reform not just of the UN in terms of the powers of the General Assembly and its functions.
“In terms of the powers and limits of the powers of the Security Council and in terms of representation, this is the politics that is going on,” he said.
The Nigerian envoy declared that Nigeria and some countries, currently left out, deserved a permanent seat on the council considering the current realities.
“But this journey, at the official level, started 25 years ago. Nigeria is at the forefront of that effort and doesn’t read this as a selfish move.
“This (permanent seat) is the right of Nigeria and other serious nations to push and this is what other countries are also pushing.
“Be they small states which are pushing, be they Africa that has not any representation, this is not something that would go away.
“Nigeria and others are committed that we cannot have a democratic system which does not represent the majority of countries.
“Our continent is completely out of contention; whether we get two or three, the debate is we have to be on the Security Council,” Mr. Bande said.
The body has five permanent members – the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, France, the People’s Republic of China, and the United States – and 10 non-permanent members, elected on a regional basis to serve two-year terms
The five permanent members can veto any substantive Security Council resolution, including those on the admission of new member states or candidates for Secretary-General.
This, the Nigerian ambassador stressed, meant few countries overruling the entirety of the global community.
“The debate is still ongoing whether it is even right to have veto power,” he said.
The Nigerian envoy exuded confidence in the chance of Nigeria to get on board of the prestigious Council on its own global credentials or through the African continental slot.
“We have every reason to be hopeful in terms of the contributions of Nigeria to the global community since 1960. I think we have good credentials,” he said.


(NAN)

Nigeria to reduce membership of international organizations

By: Bhodemarz on September 28, 2017 / comment : 0 , , ,

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday gave a presidential committee two weeks to conclude arrangements towards scaling down Nigeria’s membership of international organizations.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said the FEC had proposed reduction of Nigeria’s membership of international organizations from 310 to 220.
Adeosun was accompanied to the briefing by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, and the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu.
According to her, ministers have been asked to go back and review Nigeria’s membership of the organizations so that final report can be presented to FEC in the next two weeks.
Stressing that Nigeria has been paying $70 million annually on membership subscriptions, she said there was no need allowing subscription to accumulate in organizations that are not important to Nigeria’s developmental aspirations.
The new move, she said, was to prevent Nigeria from being embarrassed as the subscription arrears have continued to rise.
She said: “I’m briefing on a memo that was extensively discussed during FEC meeting. The Council deliberated on recommendations of an inter-ministerial working committee on the status of Nigeria’s membership of international organizations and associated financial obligations.
“Basically Nigeria is a member of 310 international organizations and a committee was set up to review the rationale of our continued membership of such large number of organizations, particularly in the light of the fact that in many cases we are not actually paying our financial obligations and subscriptions which is causing some embarrassment to Nigeria and our image abroad.
“In particular, it was discussed that there are some commitments made to international organizations by former presidents which were not cash backed.
“So when our delegations turn up at those organizations we become very embarrassed. So that was what drove the committee.”
“The committee made some recommendations, that out of the 310 organizations, 220 organizations should be retained and the rest we should withdraw membership from.
“But council directed that more work needed to be done, particularly there was a dispute as to the figure of how much is owed. The committee had a figure of about $120 million but we heard from Ministry of Finance and other ministries that is far more than that. Our subscriptions are in arrears in a number of major organizations.”

“So the directive of the council was that we should go and reconcile those figures and come back to council and have a payment plan for those figures to avoid Nigeria being embarrassed internationally.

Source: thenationonlineng.net

Buhari speech at UN General Assembly

By: Bhodemarz on September 19, 2017 / comment : 0 , ,

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday addressed the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, United States.
President Buhari pledged Nigeria’s solidarity to the United Nations and solicited the support of the international community in tackling global challenges.
Read The President’s Full Speech Below:
On behalf of my country, Nigeria, I congratulate you Mr President on your election and Mr (Antonio) Gutteres on his first General Assembly outing as our Secretary-General. I assure you both of my country’s solidarity and cooperation. You will indeed need the cooperation of all Member States as we are meeting during extra-ordinarily troubled and dangerous times. Let me also thank former Secretary-General Mr Ban ki-Moon for his service to the United Nations and wish him a peaceful retirement.
Mr President, the previous year has witnessed many far-reaching developments. Some of the most significant events include the Iran Nuclear Deal, the Paris Climate Change Agreement and, of grave concern, the North Korean nuclear crisis.
Mr President, I must also commend the UN’s role in helping to settle thousands of innocent civilians caught in the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. In particular, we must collectively thank the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany under the commendable leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Governments of Italy, Greece and Turkey for assisting hundreds of thousands of refugees.
In an exemplary show of solidarity, the international community came togetherwithin my own region to assist the countries and communities in the Sahel and the Lake Chad regions to contain the threats posed by Al Qaida and Boko Haram.
We thank the Security Council for visiting the countries of the Lake Chad Basin to assess the security situation and humanitarian needs, and for pledging assistance to rebuild lives and livelihoods. Indeed, in Nigeria, we are providing relief and humanitarian assistance to millions in internally displaced camps and those afflicted by terrorism, drought, floods and other natural disasters.
In the last year, the international community came together to focus on the need for gender equality, youth empowerment, social inclusion, and the promotion of education, creativity and innovation. The frontiers of good governance, democracy including holding free and fair elections, and enthronement of the rule of law are expanding everywhere, especially in Africa.
Our faith in democracy remains firm and unshaken. Our regional organisation ECOWAS came together to uphold democratic principles in The Gambia – as we had done previously in Cote D’Ivoire.
Through our individual national efforts, state institutions are being strengthened to promote accountability, and to combat corruption and asset recovery. These can only be achieved through the international community cooperating and providing critical assistance and material support. We shall also cooperate in addressing the growing transnational crimes such as forced labour, modern day slavery, human trafficking and cybercrime.
Mr President, these cooperative efforts should be sustained. We must collectively devise strategies and mobilise the required responses to stop fleeing ISIS fighters from mutating and infiltrating into the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin, where there are insufficient resources and response capacity is weak.
This will require strong UN cooperation with regional organisations, such as the African Union, in conflict prevention and management. The UN should continue to take primary leadership of the maintenance of international peace and security by providing, in a predictable and sustainable manner, adequate funding and other enablers to regional initiatives and peacekeeping operations authorized by the Security Council.
Mr President, new conflicts should not make us lose focus on ongoing unresolved old conflicts. For example, several UN Security Council Resolutions from 1967 on the Middle East crisis remain unimplemented. Meanwhile, the suffering of the Palestinian people and the blockade of Gaza continue.
Additionally, we are now confronted by the desperate human rights and humanitarian situations in Yemen and most tragically in the Rakhine State of Myanmar. The Myanmar crisis is very reminiscent of what happened in Bosnia in 1995 and in Rwanda in 1994.
The international community cannot remain silent and not condemn the horrendous suffering caused by what, from all indications is a state-backed programme of brutal depopulation of the Rohingya inhabited areas in Myanmar on the bases of ethnicity and religion. We fully endorse the call by the Secretary-General on the Government of Myanmar to order a halt to the ongoing ethnic cleansing and ensure the safe return of the displaced Rohingya to their homes in safety and dignity.
In all these crises, the primary victims are the people, the most vulnerable being women and children. That is why the theme of this session: Focusing on People: Striving for Peace and Decent Life for All on a Sustainable Planet” is most apposite.
While the international community grapples to resolve these conflicts, we must be mindful and focus on the widening inequalities within societies, and the gap between the rich and the poor nations. These inequalities and gaps are part of the underlining root causes of competition for resources, frustration and anger leading to spiralling instability.
The most pressing threat to international peace and security today is the accelerated nuclear weapons development programme by North Korea. Since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, we have never come so close to the threat of nuclear war as we have now.
All necessary pressure and diplomatic efforts must be brought to bear on North Korea to accept a peaceful resolution of the crisis. As Hiroshima and Nagasaki painfully remind us, if we fail, the catastrophic and devastating human loss and environmental degradation cannot be imagined.
Mr President, Nigeria proposes a strong UN delegation to urgently engage the North Korean Leader. The delegation, led by the Security Council, should include members from all the regions.
The crisis in the Korean peninsula underscores the urgency for all member states, guided by the spirit of enthroning a safer and more peaceful world, to ratify without delay the Treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons, which will be open for signature here tomorrow.
Mr President, I end my remarks by reiterating Nigeria’s abiding commitment to the foundational principles and goals of the United Nations. Since our admission as a member state in 1960, we have always participated in all efforts to bring about global peace, security and development. Nigeria will continue to support the UN in all its efforts, including the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
I thank you.
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