Nigeria partners UAE on humanitarian response stations nationwide

The Federal Government on Sunday said it secured the agreement of the United Arab Emirates to create humanitarian response stations nationwide to enable timely attention to victims of disasters.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, disclosed this to State House correspondents in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates after her interactions with officials of the Emirati government at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).

Edu said Nigeria sought the UAE’s assistance to address humanitarian crises emanating from click mate change-induced insurgency in the Northeast and to reduce poverty in the most affected regions.

She stated that the Red Crescent, the Emirati equivalent to the Red Cross, is ready to build a more resilient humanitarian response system for Nigeria.

“We have held a lot of interactions at different levels, of course, with the government of the UAE, that’s interacting with the Minister for Tolerance in the country who happens to be a brother to the President.

“We have had interactions with the World Trade Organization DG, who is one of our own. We have had interactions with the president of the Islamic Development Bank and it’s centered on humanitarian response, and other poverty alleviation programs that they can come in to support the country.

“And then finally, we had interaction with the Red Crescent, which is like the Red Cross here in Dubai and they are ready to come into Nigeria and support us to build a more resilient humanitarian response system across the country,” she explained.

Edu said climate change is a major contributor to Nigeria’s humanitarian crises and poverty, arguing that it has made youths easy recruits for terrorist organisations

Therefore her Ministry is at COP28 to “see how we can be part of the climate change adaptation, to get support to provide jobs for people to lift them out of poverty, to key into the Paris Agreement. And see how we can align to ensure that we prevent and mitigate all of those natural disasters that lead people into humanitarian crises.”

Edu added that Climate change is central to the mandate of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

“The flooding which you see every other time in Nigeria is as a result of climate change. And of course, there are issues around the drying up of the Lake Chad Basin, as well as the Sahel and the rest of it, which has led to people losing their livelihoods, over 40 million persons, who depend on this Lake Chad Basin, losing their livelihoods.

“Now these people have become very gullible. They go into poverty, and they can now become easy prey for people who want to recruit into all of these terrorist organizations that are causing insurgency.

“We can’t be trying to bring people out of humanitarian crises and then allowing more people to fall in as a result of climate change. And that’s why we are at this meeting,” she reasoned.

Meanwhile, the FG blamed developed countries for today’s climate crisis having contributed to the menace for centuries.

The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, who said made this assertion on the margins of COP28, affirmed that the Nigerian delegation was determined to canvass for a position that benefits the country and its people.

“This year’s COP, we are expecting a lot from it,” Balarabe quipped.

He added: “The main focus of this year’s conference has to do with the issue of adaptation, and mitigation. And the biggest issue is those of loss and damage, which I think is one that affects most of us because we have for a long time been victims of climate change, which is not really our own making.

“It is the making of the industrialized world that has created a lot of climate issues that have affected vulnerable countries, of which Nigeria is part of it: desertification, coastal erosion and a lot of issues that led to all this.

“So, this year, I think we are lucky. The current president of COP is very determined. I was very impressed with his speech.”

He assured Nigerians that the summit would yield favourable outcomes for Nigeria given the position already expressed by President Bola Tinubu at the opening.

Lawal said that Nigeria would pursue its agenda on the various issues of climate change effects and remediation in the ensuing days.

“So, I think this year’s COP is going to be very good for us…That’s why you see a large number of people from Nigeria coming because they’re going to various sectors: the issue of carbon grading, the issue of mitigation, the issue of methane, which the President yesterday, highlighted, Nigeria’s position.”

Citing remarks by the COP28 President, Dr Ahned Al-Jaber, Balarabe said advanced economies have committed to help developing countries on the adaptation path as they are “already paying $30bn in that area.”

“We have over $100bin in the area of loss and damage, which is the issue of those that have been victims of flood and all sorts of consequences,” he added.