The United Nations under Secretary-General for Safety and Security, Gilles Michaud has begun the humanitarian assessment needs of 1.7 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Borno. The over a decade long Boko Haram insurgency has claimed 36,000 lives with property worth $9.2 billion (about N3.42 trillion) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. While stating his mission Wednesday to Governor Babagana Zulum in Maiduguri, he said: “I’m here today for the on the spot humanitarian needs assessment, and to meet you for IDPs’ basic needs of life before they are returned to communities. “You’ve already built a high reputation that has; many people in the UN discussing amongst themselves.” Besides, he added: “I have heard a lot of good things about you. Your reputation precedes you. “We see the proactive vision that you execute here in Borno State,” assuring that the Governor can count on continued support of the UN for your efforts.” He said his visit was to oversee humanitarian activities undertaken by agencies of the UN in different parts of the state. According to him, this is in line with the needs of persons affected by the insurgency crisis. Zulum also thanked Michaud for the visit and lauded the UN for the far reaching contributions of its agencies. He however raised concern on issues of accountability by some of the NGOs operating in the state. While lamenting NGOs’ activities, he said: “There are a lot of leakages in the system. We’re not getting maximum benefit from their activities. “The amount of funds that has been sunk into the entire Northeast by donor partners in the last ten years can overcome humanitarian challenges. “We need to know who are working and where, you are coming to Borno, we need to know who you are, what you are doing,” noting the NGOs don’t want to be checked to ensure transparency and accountability to the people. According to him, some of the NGOs are not genuine to be tamed and know exactly who the right ones are. He said that some of the partners are working on their own without recourse to the government and its people. Continuing, he added: “Coordination is very important, you can’t solve the problem you do not understand. “We need to work together as we know our problem better than anyone.” “There are a number of good humanitarian actors especially the UN agencies like UNDP, the UNICEF, UNHCR and host of other development partners like the EU. “We want our people to earn their means of livelihoods. We’ve been receiving tremendous humanitarian support, but it is not sustainable,” warning that keeping them in IDP camps will expose the younger for recruitment by Boko Haram.
