Abuja- The UN office in Nigeria, on Wednesday in Abuja, inaugurated a benevolence fund scheme for its members of staff and their dependants.
Mr Noma Owens, the President of Federation of UN Staff Associations of Nigeria (FUNSAN), said the fund was an internal mechanism to cater for the needy, especially the families of victims who died in the 2011 UN Headquarters bomb blast.
Owens said the benevolence fund was an idea conceived by UN members of staff to mobilise resources to support the dependants of colleagues who died in the blast.
He added that “it is also to support non UN staff, people that work with us who are not our personnel, provide support to cleaners, security personnel and restaurant staff, among others.
“When they are able to show evidence that they have needs, we will provide some token to support them, though we cannot do everything, we do not pretend that we can solve every person’s problems.’’
According to him, members of staff should be able to come together to pull resources together and support people and their families that have specific needs.
The FUNSAN president said token money would also be given to those who had scars of injury or disability as a result of the bomb blast.
“We hope that this will be a way of encouraging them to continue to strive to support development in Nigeria and also to support our own mandate as UN system in Nigeria.’’
The Federation boss said beneficiaries would receive their token gift before Dec. 25, pointing out that their data had already been taken.
“Every person will receive whatever is due to him or her before Christmas. The money is ready.
“We want to bring the families of UN personnel together to socialise.
“We particularly want our children to come together to have fun, as well as to give them gifts and for them to eat and drink.
“As a UN system, we should know ourselves the more because we work together to support the development of Nigeria.’’ (NAN)