The Presidency and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) have concluded arrangements to organise a two-day engagement forum with local and international stakeholders on the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-east.
A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity (Office of the Vice-President), Laolu Akande, said the forum, scheduled to take place on Tuesday October 27, 2015 at the multi-purpose hall of the Borno state Government House, is aimed at bringing relief, restoration and rehabilitation to the IDPs.
The statement said the forum would ensure an efficient coordination and create synergy of purpose between the federal government and non-governmental organisations in the humanitarian intervention efforts for the North-east.
According to the statement, the forum is expected to establish a framework for coordination by bringing key stakeholders together to produce a blueprint for best practices and ensure an articulate response to emergencies and humanitarian challenges like the present situation in the three most affected states of the North East; Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states.
“This interactive forum with relevant international and local NGOs, development partners, aid and donor agencies,” the statement said, “will create an enabling platform to discuss the most efficient approaches to adopt towards complementing efforts of the federal and state Governments with specialised services in the affected areas and thereby ensure a sustained and coherent system for social services delivery in the region.”
The statement said the forum would put in focus, the desirability for complementary, results-driven, goals-targeted collaboration of efforts among the federal and state governments, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders within the framework of the federal government’s plan in both the short and long term.
“The forum will also strengthen stakeholders’ coordination and management efforts, in order to ensure that NGOs are provided with adequate capacity for optimal service delivery as well as services provided by these NGOs having the widest impact in target areas.
“This engagement forum with the active involvement of NEMA and other developmental partners is expected to achieve improvement in the coordination of relevant stakeholders, harmonized channels for supporting humanitarian assistance, mapping and endorsing sound protocol for sharing information between stakeholders and the public.
“Participating NGOs will be eligible for the grants programme of the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE), a programme designed to run for 12 months with the goal of increasing the impact of NGO activities in the North-east.