Private sector partners UN to reduce IDPs’ sufferings in north east Nigeria

In efforts to end the crisis in the North-east part of the country a number of privately owned companies in the country have extended gestures to Internally Displace Persons (IDPs) in the region.

This is coming as the United Nations (UN) Nigerian Humanitarian Fund- Private Sector Initiative (NHF-PSI) initiated moves to galvanize a new wave of donor support for the displaced persons in the volatile region.

Mr Wale Tinubu, Group Chief Executive, Oando Plc and Secretary of the Steering Group of NHF-PSI, who led the team undertook the first ever collective tour of two IDP camps in Maiduguri, Borno State to have a first-hand assessment of the situation at the IDP camps.

Speaking during the tour of the camps, Tinubu said: “This initiative is about Nigerians helping each other. Today, I have witnessed some of the most vulnerable people; women and children in the direst circumstances. Having seen the magnitude of their humanitarian needs, it is obvious that it is not a task that the government or anyone agency can take on alone.

Read also: Kidnappers demand N6m ransom each for twins kidnapped in Ekiti

“Now, more than ever, there is a global realisation that collaboration, convening and cooperation are the only path to creating the society we desire. The realisation that no one person, group or authority has all the answers, but we achieve so much more when we explore ways of combining forces, innovating and working together.

“We, as private sector leaders, have a collective responsibility to lend our diverse resources to alleviate the suffering of our fellow Nigerians. The onus is on us to use our position to repair, nurture, build and sustain our society and pave a path for a truly inclusive economy.”

In his remarks, Edward Kallon, United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, said: “The humanitarian community has been working tirelessly to provide shelter, food, health care and other basic needs for families who have been left with little or nothing. To see directors of banks and energy companies show compassion for the mothers and fathers, daughters and sons affected by this crisis brings a new beacon of hope for people who have endured so much.

“Together with the leading business minds in Nigeria, there is so much more we can do, for Nigeria’s most vulnerable people.”

The NHF-PSI, made up of fourteen leading private sector companies in different sectors of the economy, was launched in November 2018 to pool donations and resources from the private sector as well as donor countries to create a more collaborative and effective response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in North-east Nigeria.

The body to date has raised $83 million in contributions and pledges

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now