The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has pledged to commit $270 million to strenthen and support Nigeria’s humanitarian response and poverty alleviation efforts.

UNICEF country representative, Cristian Munduate, said this when she met with the minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, Betta Edu, in Abuja.

A statement by the information ministry spokeswoman Rhoda Iliya on Tuesday said, “UNICEF also assured the minister of their commitment to provide technical support towards building capacity of the ministry’s staff to achieve its mandate.

It quoted the UNICEF official as saying, ”We will also support the development of a Humanitarian Response Protocol for Nigeria to guide all Humanitarian Actors as this will facilitate effective coordination.

 ”We will support the establishment of a National Humanitarian Situation Room or Humanitarian Emergency Operation Centre (H-EOC) to monitor, mitigate and prevent Humanitarian Emergencies and build resilience in the system” 

The statement said Ms Edu informed the UNICEF delegation of President Bola Tinubu’s determination to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty.

“The federal government of President Bola Tinubu, is committed to lifting 133 million poor Nigerians out of poverty in a phased approach; especially, the 71 million extremely poor Nigerians who live under one dollar ninety-five cents a day,” noted the minister.

Ms Edu urged UNICEF, as a matter of urgency, to draw up its plan of action towards supporting Nigeria’s efforts on poverty alleviation.

”Time is of essence and we need to run at the speed of light to roll out social programs that will bring relieve to the burdens of the poor. Nigerians are eagerly waiting for full implementation of the renewed hope agenda and the time for intense action is now,” stated Ms Edu.

(NAN)