ABUJA 21 February 2017-UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, has received $500,000 Thousand as grant from the Korean Republic International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to scale-up support for fistula repairs and emergency obstetrics care in Nigeria’s Borno State, the epicentre of the Chad Basin crisis. KOICA has released the grant and further requested UNFPA to submit a multi-year proposal of $5million to scale-up humanitarian work in Borno State.
UNFPA, KOICA expert’s mission to Borno State was to better understand the context and assess the feasibility of UNFPA’s proposal. The two sides were led by the UNFPA Nigeria Representative ai, Beatrice Mutali, and Mr. Kyu-Duk Noh, the Republic of Korea’s Ambassador to Nigeria. Mr. Noh had led a KOICA delegation on a first-hand assessment of UNFPAs Humanitarian Response Programme to Maiduguri, Borno State’s capital.
Other members of the Korean team included the Deputy Head of Mission, Yong-min Song and KOICA Country Director, Sook Hyun Park. The delegation also met with the Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima
During the mission, Governor Shettima commended the Korean Republic for its support to the people of Borno and requested that the funds be invested more in providing infrastructure, schools, health facilities and shelter for internally displaced persons and for the host communities. Governor Shettima also urged quick intervention to meet life-saving needs of affected communities, early recovery and resilience in building of social services, economic infrastructure and livelihood support programmes.
“The State sees it as a game-changer for any surviving girl-child to have access to education, and partners can come in to support the State in infrastructure, such as rebuilding schools and restoring health centres”, the Governor appealed.
The Korean Ambassador had earlier pledged his Government’s resolve to partner with UNFPA to work in Borno. Mr. Noh noted that, even though KOICA, had been working in Nigeria, it was an opportunity for the government to choose to be in at least three selected local government areas and ensure that its assistance positively affected the lives of the people.
The Ambassador added: “We in the Republic of Korea know and understand what the people of Borno are going through because there was a time when my country was depending on donors’ funding and, as the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed.”
The mission also coincided with Multi-donor visit to the state, it was organized by the UNCT, led by the Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator, on the team were Irish, DFID, USAID, EU, Norway, Sweden, and Spain, Japan, Netherlands and the two Ambassadors of South Korea and Ireland joined. The mission assessment was aimed to give donors an overview of humanitarian needs, response and gaps in the area, and is aimed at enabling them better placed to appropriately brief their principles who will meet at the Oslo Conference.
The delegations visited the Muna Garage displaced persons’ camp during their two-day engagement, and met with government officials and key humanitarian stakeholders in the State. The visit was designed to seek for more and sustainable support to speed-up of reconstruction as well as the rehabilitation, resettlement of displaced persons in Borno State.