Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja 

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)  has said its support for the reconstruction of the North East despite continuous attacks by insurgents was based on the need for residents of the affected areas to have a life of their own.

UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in Charge of Operations, Carine Yengayenge, made the disclosure in Abuja during the UNDP and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) debriefing session for officials of governments of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

The meeting was held to facilitate the sharing of lessons learnt from the experience of Japan and reflection into strategies for recovery in the North East.

Yengayenge said the session was for the affected states to learn from what Japan faced in 1945 in terms of post-war recovery, adding that even during the war and post war, the people needed to continue living.

She expressed gratitude to the government of Japan for its generous funding and the collaboration of JICA with which the study mission and the workshop were realised.

Yengayenge disclosed that out of the donors supporting UNDP’s projects in the North East, the Japanese government provided the first funding in March, 2016, which enabled UNDP to implement pilot initiatives and create the integrated community recovery programme in the region.

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She said Japan had generously funded the activities of UNDP in the North East with the sum of $8 million.

She explained that the UNDP integrated community recovery programme is providing target communities with supports in four thematic areas such as livelihood, access to basic service, local governance, including social cohesion and security.

Yengayenge further said under the programme, over 10,000 people gained access to basic services, over 11,000 people provided with emergency income opportunities with cash for work in construction and waste management and nearly 13,000 households received agricultural inputs.

“Even during the war and post-war, people need to continue living. They need to survive, they need to find a way to get  their lives and see how they can do something to help their families even if the conditions will be so hard,” she said.

UNDP and JICA in November 2019 facilitated a learning mission for government officials from Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states to Japan. The three officials visited a number of sites in Tokyo and Hiroshima where they engaged in several experience sharing activities with the host country.

UNDP said it was an opportunity to learn how Japan successfully implemented recovery process post-war experiences such as in Hiroshima in order to strengthen the capacity of state governments in conflict-affected states.