BEVERLY HILLS, January 13, (THEWILL) – Borno state Governor, Kashim Shettima, has apologised to top officials of the United Nations who stormed the Government House, Maiduguri, Borno State, following his criticism of their humanitarian operations in the state.
THEWILL recalls that Shettima had asked listed praised some NGOs (excluding UNICEF) for coming to the aid of the Internally Displaced Persons but accused 126 others of misuse of funds telling them to leave his state.
Responding to his allegations, UN top officer in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, denied the governor’s allegation saying he did not understand the dynamics of the agency’s operation.
Speaking when Kallon led a delegation of his organisation to Maiduguri to clear issues with him, Shettima said the media misquoted him in the report insisting that he did not include UNICEF or any of the top UN organisations in the list of the NGOs he wanted out of Borno state.
“The media are our necessary evil; they are our friend that have stood by us during our dark days of Boko Haram insurgency,” he said.
“But we all know how they operate; they are not interested in hearing me praise UN, all they want is to hear me lambast the UN so that they can have some catchy headlines to sell their news.
“I appreciate the UN, they have been our allies in this crisis. There is no way I could have disparaged the UN. But I insist that the other 126 NGOs that are not doing anything but smiling to banks in the name of Borno must either leave or do the needful.
“I do not want you to give us money in any form. All we want from you is bring in whatever assistance you want to give my people; let your officials monitor how they are being executed.”
In his speech, Kallon, revealed that the UN has since last year scaled up its humanitarian support in especially North-east Nigeria to about 100 percent since his arrival to the country and urged Governor Shettima to always consult them, being experts in the humanitarian business, anytime he has questions or observed something he is not pleased with.
“I am really appealing to your government that we need to speak with one voice,” he said.
“As we say in West Africa, if we allow the media to shoot us in our legs, we are not going to be able to walk. Because this is what is happening now and if we continue to send out different languages with different messages, it is not going to help all of us.
“So I really need your support and that of your administration, for us to speak with one voice and come together as strategic partners.
“One thing you have to know about the humanitarian business is that it is a big, big politics. UN are now stabilizing their staffs here by bringing in their permanent staff; they are trying to bring their staff from Syria and other places – people who have the experience in dealing with the humanitarian business.
“I have done this job for more than 29 years, and one thing I can tell you is that, in Nigeria you know how to do your business, but not like the humanitarian business – it is politics. Yes, very big politics. And the only way we can beat the politics is to be on the same page and we speak with one voice.
“So I will want to work with you, your Excellency to address any remaining challenges on effective coordination on the ground, resource mobilization is our priority; humanitarian access, and because we speak with one voice. This is a challenge I have seen in Nigeria, we are not telling our story coherently.
“Your Excellency, if you want any information on the activities of these people as our Mr. Peter, our coordinator here, and I am sure he will give you the information, you can then cross check. And if you are not happy, that is why we are here.
