The federal government has demanded the United Nations and its agencies to give an account of the monies it sourced from international donors on behalf of Nigeria to address issues related to poverty, women and children.
The minister of women affairs, Barrister Uche Kennedy Ohanenye, who made this call during a press briefing at the ministry in Abuja yesterday, said UN agencies were collecting huge monies on behalf of Nigeria and wasting them on unproductive activities.
She, therefore, gave the UN bodies a one-month ultimatum to publish the monies or risk being sued by Nigeria.
The minister noted that the demand for funding accountability comes as a result of the continuous rise in violence against women and children, poverty, out-of-school-children, in addition to the low number of empowered women and women in politics, issues, she noted, the UN agencies such as UNICEF, UNAID, UNFPA, UNESCO and UNWOMEN are purportedly addressing.
Ohanenye expressed belief that the funds were rather signed off to creating policies, providing oral technical support, summits and advocacy rather than the main issues they are meant to address.
She said, “From 2018 to 2019, Nigeria Bureau of Statistics reported that the poverty rate in Nigeria stood at 40.1 percent, today it is up 63 percent. Out-of-school children in Nigeria, which is the mandate of UNESCO, rose from 12.5 million in 2018 to 20 million in 2022. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which was practised in five states as of 2018, report shows, is now practised in nine states. The National Women Economic Policy and Action Plan shows that only 10 percent of women own land in the country, while there are about 43.7 million women and girls in Nigeria who are extremely poor, etc.
“Yet the UN sources millions, if not billions of dollars, in the name of Nigeria from donors to address these issues. The American Embassy informed me that they give UN $800 million aid annually to Nigeria. The Canadian Embassy gives the UN $150 million annual aid to Nigeria. These funding all go through the same line of oral technical support, policy making and advocacy.
“It is all talk, talk, talk, and no action. We don’t want this again. We have the right to demand for the right things that will favour our masses. If they don’t want to do it, then we don’t need that money, and they should stop using Nigeria’s name to source funds.”
The minister gave an ultimatum to the UN agencies to present a published report accounting for how their funds were spent to the average Nigeria within a month, or it will take the matter to court.
“We are giving them a month from October 16, 2023, to November 15, 2023. If by November 8, 2023, they don’t respond, we will write them a pre-action letter from the ministry on behalf of the Nigerian women and children, who make up over 70% of our population.
“And after the November 15, 2023, we will go to court to demand for that account because you can’t use $140 million for technical support and summits, that we don’t need, and so many other things that are totally irrelevant from the main reason the donors make these donations,” the minister said.
