The National Inter-sector Coordination Forum made up of all relevant government ministries and departments and agencies involved in humanitarian supports in the North-East has frowned at its exclusion in the Humanitarian Needs Overview and Humanitarian Response Plan being reviewed by the United Nations Systems in Nigeria.

For proper humanitarian intervention and accountability in the support of persons and communities affected by insurgency and other disasters, the forum advised all local and international organisations to synchronise their humanitarian activities with intervention programmes of the Federal Government.

Rising from its meeting in Abuja at the headquarters of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the forum said the present humanitarian situation in Nigeria does not suggest any lack of concern from the government to support its citizens in distress.

Presenting the position of the forum which is coordinated by the National Emergency Management Agency, Director General of NEMA Muhammad Sani Sidi said yesterday: “There is a desperate need to properly coordinate the activities of these organisations so that their interventions fall within the needs of the country.

“We are aware that the UN System is in the process of validating Humanitarian Needs Overview and Humanitarian Response Plan. As the humanitarian coordinator for the country, NEMA will like to state categorically that it does not consent to the process as the UN OCHA has not satisfied the requirements for the process.”

Sani Sidi said the Nigerian Government was already on top of the humanitarian challenges in the country as evidenced in its serious commitment. He noted that “the UN System and International Non Governmental Organizations are supposed to complement the efforts of the Nigerian Government with the national organisations leading.”

•Photo shows Sani Sidi.

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