SAN FRANCISCO, January 11, (THEWILL) – Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, has accused UNICEF of exploiting the crisis in the North-East insisting that the group is spending money meant for the victims of Boko Haram insurgency.
Shettima speaking with journalists in Maiduguri, the state’s capital, urged such agencies to leave the region, declaring that only eight of 126 registered agencies in the state have truly assisted internally displaced persons (IDPs).
According to him, some of the organisations which he thinks are doing a good job are: UN’s World Food Programme (WFP); the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); the International Organization for Migration (IOM); the Norwegian Refugee Council; and, the Danish Refugee Council.
THEWILL recalls that President Muhammadu Buhari had also accused UNICEF of exaggerating the crisis in the state so they can get more funds.
UNICEF had recently launched a campaign to raise N1 billion insisting that over five million people in the crisis-torn region are starving, while 100,000 children are at risk of dying.
Meanwhile, Edward Kallon, the UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator to Nigeria, has refuted Shettima’s allegations insisting that UN agencies had scaled up their presence and assistance in the area.
Kallon, in a courtesy visit to the Executive Director of Victims Support Fund (VSF), Sunday Ochoche, in Abuja, revealed that UN agencies have currently reached over 2 million people with humanitarian assistance as against barely 100,000 people as at October 2016.
On the allegations of misuse of funds, the UNDP representative described it as unfair as the operations in the North-East were being executed at a cost which must be met explaining that respective UN agencies had the moral obligation of ensuring the security and safety of its staff in the country.
“The challenges are enormous but there has been a lot of progress on humanitarian response since October 2016 when I assumed duty as the UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP resident Representative to Nigeria,” he said.
“Before I came, the international community was barely reaching 100,000; however, in December, humanitarian assistance was reaching over 1 million families.
“Presently, humanitarian assistance is reaching about two million people in the North-East; there has been a huge progress so far.
“The UN system is an accountable system and if we receive a request from the Governor of Borno on what we are bringing in and what is being spent we would give that information.
“Such information is not hidden.”
