Abuja – The UN Fund for Population (UNFPA) and National Population Commission (NPC) on Thursday urged the Federal Government to scale up its investment in humanitarian support services in the country.
The two organisations made the appeal at a news conference in Abuja as part of activities marking the 2015 World Population Day (WPD) which has “Vulnerable population in emergencies” as its theme.
Delivering a goodwill message at the occasion, the UNFPA Assistant Country Representative, Mr Osaretin Adonri, advised
the Federal Government to invest heavily on human resource development.
Adonri said that a healthy, educated and well secured citizenry would make meaningful contribution to national economic growth.
He also urged government to respond to emergency situations early to prevent escalation of crisis.
According to him, more than 60 million people have been displaced from their normal homes globally, adding that women and adolescents are the most vulnerable groups in crisis situations.
The UNFPA official said women and girls die of preventable causes, including pregnancies, emergencies, abuse, attacks and rape.
He identified global warming and desertification as emerging world humanitarian crises that needed urgent action by
the global community.
He said the UNFPA was providing “dignity kits’’ to women at Internally Displaced Peoples’ (IDPs) camps
and “reproductive kits’’ to nurses and midwives under its humanitarian support services.
The Chairman of the NPC, Chief Eze Duruiheoma, had earlier called on the government to increase its funding of population activities to ensure effective planning for national development programmes.
Duruiheoma also appealed to government to empower communities affected by Boko Haram attacks, provide infrastructure
and address causes of insurgency and communal clashes.
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He also called for effective collaboration among stakeholders like NEMA, UNHCR, ICRC, UNFPA and other partners and
solicited for media support to enable the commission to deliver on its mandate.
The chairman announced that NPC was reviewing the country’s population policy “to address current national and global realities.”
Duruiheoma expressed optimism that the 2016 national census would take place after successful completion of the nation’s population policy review.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a reach-out programme to the two IDP camps in the FCT and public lecture
had been slated for July 13 and July 14 respectively as part of events for the 2015 WPD in Nigeria.
The briefing was attended by some technical partners, international and local humanitarian support NGOs. (NAN)