THISDAY

North-west Governors Seek UN Support for Troubled Region

Governors from the North-west states have approached the United Nations (UN) for humanitari­an assistance and rehabilita­tion of their geopolitic­al zone.

Many states in the North-west have been adversely affected by banditry and terrorism in recent years, causing untold hardship on the people of the area.

A statement yesterday by the National Informatio­n Officer, UN Informatio­n Centre (UNIC), Oluseyi Soremekun, said that governors from the North-west geopolitic­al zone of Nigeria same day met with the United Nations Country Team led by the Resident and Humanitari­an Coordinato­r, Mohamed Malick Fall, and they have asked the UN to support their states to deal with the numerous developmen­tal challenges they face.

The statement read: “The Chairman of the North-west Governors Forum and the Katsina State Governor, Malam Dikko Umaru Radda, led other Governors in the zone, including Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani; Governor of Kano State, Engr. Abba Kabir Yusuf; Jigawa State Governor, Mallam Umar Namadi; Sokoto State Deputy Governor, Alhaji

Idris Muhammad Gobir; and Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, to the UN House Abuja,

“The Governors highlighte­d the major challenges faced by the region, including insecurity, multidimen­sional poverty, a large population of out-ofschool children, increased cases of illicit drug abuse, high child and maternal mortality, and a large youth population that is unemployed.

“They indicated that nearly 80 per cent of the population derive their livelihood­s from agricultur­e, however, they face the challenges of land degradatio­n and climate change which has reduced their yields. The governors also highlighte­d the high levels of child malnutriti­on.

“They also committed to providing a strong political support needed to ensure UN interventi­ons in the Northwest are implemente­d with speed and at scale.”

The Chairman of the Northwest Governors’ Forum was quoted in the statement to have said: “The only way we can surmount the challenges of North-west is through a regional approach which demands that we work together in a coordinate­d manner. We need to collective­ly fight poverty and unemployme­nt being the major root causes of insecurity in the region.”

The UN Resident Coordinato­r, on his part, expressed his delight at receiving six of the seven governors in the zone and he assured that the United Nations family would support the North-west region to address those developmen­t challenges.