Kallon: Peaceful Co-existence Will Address Humanitarian Crisis in North-east – THISDAY Newspapers

In this interview with Ugo Aliogo, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Mr. Edward Kallon, speaks on the humanitarian crisis in the North-east, UN reforms in Nigeria, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other issues. Excerpts:

What are the major reforms of the United Nations in Nigeria and how have these reforms impacted the countrys development indices?The Secretary Generals Reform Agenda is being implemented on the basis of three interlinked tracks: a. Repositioning of the United Nations Development System aimed at improving the overall UN approach to 2030 Agenda through a reinvigorated resident coordinator system, a new generation of UN Country Teams and restructuring of regional assets; b. Break existing silos and allow for an integrated whole-of-pillar approach to peace and security, through enhanced focus prevention and peace sustainment (Human Rights, Humanitarian, Development and Peace Nexus), and c. Paradigm shift in the management of the Secretariat through decentralization, delegation and simplification to enhance effectiveness, while strengthening accountability.

In Nigeria, the Resident Coordinator (RC) position was officially delinked from the UNDP Resident Representative function at the beginning of 2019, thus creating an impartial, independent and empowered RC as the official Representative of the Secretary-General in the country.

Earlier in 2018, the UN System in Nigeria developed the $4.3 billion United Nations Sustainable Partnership and Development Framework (UNSDPF) 2018 -2022 which outlines the strategic direction and results expected from the cooperation between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the UN System in Nigeria. The UNSDPF 2018-2022 serves as the collective support and response of the UN System to the national development initiatives of the government regarding the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Africa Union Agenda 2063 and other internationally agreed declarations.

The UNSDPF 2018-2022 reflects Nigerias changing economic, social and environmental conditions and is designed as a strategic framework to assist and address Nigerias developmental and humanitarian challenges, leveraging on UN leadership, comparative advantages, and capacity assessment. The UNSPDF 2018 -2022 is also the basis for the country programme documents and presence of the 19 resident and four non-resident UN entities with the host country programmes in Nigeria.

Impacting development indices in Nigeria requires a whole-of-government and a whole-of-society approach. It requires that we use the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework to develop social contracts that promote action from all stakeholders including youth, civil society, academia, media, the private sector, trade unions and other stakeholders.

The SDGs will also need to be localised. This will require that there is a transition in policies, budget implementation (not just allocations), institutions and regulatory frameworks. At the higher levels, it will be necessary that both the Federal and State governments galvanise the political will and set priorities to secure the requisite resources and develop smarter development solutions to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs.Over the next decade, Nigeria will require additional resources anywhere between $161 to 357 billion to achieve SDG targets. As a middle-income country, between 50-60 percent of the financing needs is expected to be covered by the government. The challenge is that over the last couple of years, the total consolidated budget (both federal and state) was only about $54 billion. The capacity of the Nigerian government to increase investment and spur post COVID 19 recovery and job creation are severely restricted. Furthermore, debt accumulation is not an option and it is, therefore, necessary that the government does everything possible to facilitate enhanced private capital investment.

What are the obstacles to reforms for the United Nations in Nigeria?Almost all UN entities have a special mandate that is United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on children, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on climatology and World Health Organisation (WHO) on health. With these reforms, we still need to work through the differences in agency systems in order to promote joint working among them and to develop joint programming initiatives (Deliver as One). We still need to develop a more systematic approach to our partnership with Government, bilateral donors and IFIs. The skillsets for such an approach are not yet fully developed. We are also yet to develop a Nigeria funding compact with our donors. This is a critical foundation for all other areas and it is still the most challenging.

As a system, we are proud that we now have a Management Accountability Framework (MAP) to provide guidance on the overall direction, accountabilities and oversight to take forward our collective responsibility to make the United Nations fit for purpose to support the 2030 Agenda. The MAF provides a consistent approach that remains faithful to the letter and spirit of the GA resolution on the repositioning of the UN Development System.

Is the UN doing enough to support Nigeria in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?The United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Framework (UNSDPF) is the UNs partnership with the government of Nigeria on our partnership to support Nigeria in meeting the SDG goals. The current partnership runs until 2022 and a new framework is currently being developed to support Nigeria. This support cuts across many areas from health and vaccinations, education, social protection, environmental issues on desertification and the cleanup in the Niger Delta, support to the National Bureau of Statistics on data collection, and support to State governments in using the SDG framework in the development plans, among others. Financing remains a key challenge and the UN is supporting Nigeria in developing an Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF) which should help identify options and potential areas for action. Most recently the UN has supported in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in testing, vaccinations, and risk communication, with over $70 million mobilised and spent. The UN continues to stand ready to support Nigeria.

How will you measure Nigerias commitment to achieving the SDG goals and where are we in comparison to other countries?Nigeria remains committed to meeting the SDGs goals and that commitment is clear as Nigeria was one of the first countries to adopt the SDGs. The effort of Nigeria also goes back to the commitment to meeting the previous MDGs. The commitment is also clear as the SDGs have been a key part of the national development planning process. At the sub-national level, many States are now incorporating the SDGs into their plans. The available data however suggests that accelerated efforts are required if Nigeria is to meet the goals by 2030. Even though there are improvements across many fronts the improvements in many cases are not fast enough. The Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on SDGs continue to champion the SDGs and remain key coordinators.

In 2019, the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that without additional spending, there would be less than 50% progress toward all SDGs and even with increased investment from the public and private sectors, many SDGs would not be met. Therefore, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, a business-as-usual approach to financing development appeared insufficient to attain national development priorities and SDG targets.

Now, the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 has compounded the problem, marked by the decline of government revenues and development financing as well as worsening socio-economic indicators. Poverty and hunger remain high and the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to disrupt any progress.

In the areas of education, health, and access to basic services some progress has been made but will need to be accelerated significantly to meet the targets for 2030. For instance, the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to push over 7 million more Nigerians into poverty in 2020, with the poverty rate projected to rise from 40.1% (82.9 million) in 2019 to 42.5% (90.2 million people) in 2020 and 42.9% (95.7 million people) in 2022.

One area that has seen a setback is in gender equality, where cases of gender-based violence have risen since the pandemic. Significant challenges also remain in financing the SDGs, as government revenue is constrained and many being left behind in private financing of some SDGs.It is important to note the internal variation within Nigeria with some regions, particularly in the North West and North East lagging behind and in need of renewed efforts. The UN continues to support the government in a broad set of areas to help her goal of meeting the SDGs. Nigerias commitment to those goals is clear and the UN is ready to continue supporting Nigeria.

The humanitarian crisis in the North-east remains a major crisis that seems to hinder achievement of the desired success. What do you think is responsible for this?The crisis in North-east Nigeria is a complex emergency and presents an intricate web of issues that require the collective efforts of different actors in the search for a durable solution.The humanitarian crisis in the BAY Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States is very dynamic and remains one of the largest in the world today. At the peak of the crisis in 2017, over 2.2 million people were displaced in the BAY states and 303,963 Nigerian refugees were in neighbouring countries Cameroon (115,695), Chad (16,294) and Niger (171,974). Currently, there are an estimated 1.9 million people displaced in the worst-affected BAY States.

Over 80 per cent of them are in Borno State and many live in dire conditions with four out of five IDPs living in overcrowded camps. In addition, an estimated 1.6million displaced people have returned to relatively safe areas in BAY States with limited basic services and livelihood opportunities.

Over $3.2 billion has been mobilized for the humanitarian response in the north from 2017 to 2020, providing life-saving assistance to over 5.5 million people annually. This is thanks to advocacy at the highest level by the Government, the ERC and IASC at the Oslo Conferences in 2017 and 2019, and the mission of the UNSC to the Lake Chad Basin and endorsement of the UNSCR 2439. These efforts contributed to raising international awareness of the impact of the Boko Haram insurgency in the Lake Chad Basin and mobilisation of donor interest.

The humanitarian communities in Nigeria, including the Government, International NON-Governmental Organisations (INGOs), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the UN have done very good work over the years in alleviating human suffering, averting a famine in 2017, and bringing hope to millions of people affected by the conflict. This is despite the conflict being a complex and challenging counter-insurgency ecosystem with regional implications for the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin.However, 8.7 million people in the BAY states need humanitarian assistance in 2021 and a total requirement of $1 billion. The ongoing conflict continues to be the main driver of humanitarian needs in North-east Nigeria.

What is the role of the UN in supporting the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), providing psycho-socio support and source of livelihood for them?The ongoing conflict is resulting in a serious protection crisis with continued violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, violations of the rights of children, abduction, rape, arbitrary killings, gender-based violence, and the collapse of traditional coping mechanisms. About 80 per cent of people in need of humanitarian assistance across the Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states are women and children. Women and children are disproportionately aected by the COVID-19 pandemic and gender inequalities have been reinforced over the past few months. From global best practices, there are no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems.

The only solution to the crisis in North-east Nigeria is peace. We must therefore have a shared understanding of the risk and vulnerability that prioritise prevention always, development wherever possible, and humanitarian action when necessary. This approach should also be supported by the right kind of financing, drawing from diverse funding sources to ensure that the required resources are mobilized.

From our analysis, a three-pronged approach is required to find a durable solution to the crisis in North-east Nigeria, an approach that requires the engagement of a diverse range of actors based on their comparative advantages: Continuation of the counter-insurgency effort of the NAF and the counter-terrorism effort by the MNJTF. This however needs to be complemented with dialogue and a peacebuilding process to achieve peace. Continuation of life-saving assistance in pockets of acute humanitarian needs, built around a resilience-based approach to support the affected population cope with the impact of the crisis, recover from it and engage in transformative change. Address the root causes of the crisis due to prolonged development deficit, multidimensional poverty, governance and human rights deficits and climate vulnerabilities.

What do you think is responsible for the widespread insecurity challenges facing the country, especially in the north-east; what is the solution, and what is the role of the UN to support Nigeria in this fight?From the UNs long experience of international development and promoting peaceful solutions across the world, we have found that there is no peace without development and there is no development without peace.There are a number of key underlying factors driving insecurity in the region, which remains a complex and challenging situations, including: Youth unemployment and youth underemployment: These issues have only increased since the advent of COVID-19 which has caused unprecedented socioeconomic difficulties globally. With youth unemployment at 42% and not enough jobs being created, the economy needs about five million new jobs every year to keep up with the number of people entering the labour market. Unequal development: Across regions and across the nation, there are disparities in levels of development and access to opportunities, which further increases inequalities. Proliferation of small arms: Nigeria accounts for 70% of the 500m illegal arms in West Africa, many of which are in the hands of non-state actors rights across the country.

The UN system in Nigeria is involved in a number of efforts and initiatives to address these key underlying issues and the UN, of course, continues to support the Government of Nigeria in its development aspirations as we work together towards achieving the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. The UN is currently investing in local peace architecture and cross-border issues and early warning systems.

Furthermore, UN also invests in border governance and regional security through Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Africa Unity (AU), and Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). We are working to bridge the humanitarian-peace-development nexus in the North-East through the development of a durable solution framework. UN agencies are closely involved in recent initiatives like Generation Unlimited and the Nigeria Jubilee Fellowship Programme which aims to reach millions of unemployed and underemployed youth. We have high hopes that these efforts will lead to transformational change in Nigeria for the Nigerian people and bring about the peace and development that they deserve.

What is the relationship between development and humanitarian challenges?Addressing complex emergencies requires appropriate locally-constructed and context-specific initiatives to simultaneouslyaddress the duality of the key problems we encounter: Reduce needs, risks and vulnerabilities of the affected populations; Build resilience at the individual, household, community and institutional levels.At the core of strengthening the coherence between humanitarian, development and peace is reducing peoples needs, risk and vulnerabilities, supporting prevention efforts and thus, shifting from delivering humanitarian assistance to ending needs. This is critical to reducing the humanitarian caseloads and ensuring that we meet our collective pledge to leave no one behind.

Do you think Nigeria is winning the war in the humanitarian crisis facing the nation, if not can you identify the gaps and opportunities for adjustment?The humanitarian crisis in the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY), in North east Nigeria, remains one of the largest in the world today. The conflict is a protracted one that is in its 12th year and over 37,000 people have been killed. At the peak of the crisis in 2017, over 2.2 million people were displaced in the BAY states.

The humanitarian communities in Nigeria, including INGOs, civil society, UN and the government, have done very good work over the years since gaining access to the region in 2016. The humanitarian community has helped in alleviating human suffering, averting a famine in 2017, and bringing hope to millions of people affected by the conflict. This is despite it being in a complex and challenging counter-insurgency eco-system with a regional implication for the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin. Over $3.2 billion has been mobilized for the humanitarian response in the north from 2017 to 2020, providing life-saving assistance to over 5.5 million people annually.

The only solution to the crisis in northeast Nigeria is peace. We must continue to prioritize prevention always, development where feasible, and humanitarian assistance when needed. There are no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems.

How would you assess government interventions in the fight to eradicate the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you think the strategies are good enough to win the fight or there is need to re-strategise?The COVID-19 pandemic has been an x-ray that has revealed fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built. We must work together to turn the impact of COVID-19 into a generational opportunity to build back better a more equal and sustainable world.

What has been the support of the UN in complementing governments effort in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic?The One UN COVID-19 Response and Basket Fund has been very successful in supporting the COVID-19 Presidential Task Force and mobilized over $ 73 million. The UN Basket Fund procured 40 percent of the medical supplies to respond to the COVID 19 Pandemic and distributed to all states by the Nigeria Centre for Disease(NCDC). The key achievements of the One UN Response and Basket Fund include: Procurement of 10,839,000 (PPES) comprising of 459,783 test kits (Cobas, Thermofisher and molecular test kits, 50 ventilators, oxygen concentrators. Resuscitator, Swab collection and extraction kits, Gowns, gloves, and facemask. 40 percent of the total medical supplies and equipment for the response were funded from the Basket Fund. Support to State level COVID 19 response. Digital surveillance outbreak response management and analysis system, data transmission to States, distribution of revised home-based care guidelines and training of health care workers on case management and infection prevention control. Risk communication and community engagement through public awareness campaigns, Television, radio, social media that reached over 84 million people across 17 States to increase awareness of preventive and protective measures among Nigerians.

An allocation of 13.65 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine has been approved by COVAX facility for Nigeria, of which the first batch of 3.92 million doses was received on March 2 2021. All 36 dtates and the federal Capital Territory (FCT) have started vaccination since mid-March and as of May, 19 a total of 1.84 million people, which is about 92 per cent of the first dose target, have been vaccinated in the country.

Like Loading...

Read the rest here:

Kallon: Peaceful Co-existence Will Address Humanitarian Crisis in North-east - THISDAY Newspapers