18 April – Today, the Government of Japan announced a $4.3 m (equivalent to 1.8 billion NGN) contribution to UNDP Nigeria’s ongoing stabilization and early recovery efforts in the north-east Nigeria. The contribution will be used to provide support to conflict-affected communities through the provisioning of livelihood and economic opportunities, restoration of basic services, the establishment of effective and accountable local governance and the revitalization of social cohesion and community security in the region.

The prolonged conflict in the north-east continues to cause human critical incidents, the displacement of communities and increased dependency on humanitarian aid. In addition to the long-standing difficulties, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has increasingly caused deterioration of the security situation and the standard of living in communities across the region. 

Through support from the Government of Japan, these stabilization and early recovery efforts will adopt an integrated resilience-based strategy that aims to enable community recovery and peace building. His Excellency MATSUNAGA Kazuyoshi, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Federal Republic of Nigeria said “The Government of Japan recognizes the importance of stabilization and recovery in the conflict-affected communities in the north-east of Nigeria and is committed to promoting peace and stability in the region by working in collaboration with UNDP and other relevant stakeholders with the aim of fostering prosperity in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general” he said. “The Government of Japan will continue to work with our longtime partner, UNDP, to implement and sustain comprehensive humanitarian assistance for the stability and recovery of communities in north-eastern Nigeria.”

Specifically, the contribution will be used to fund agricultural skill improvement programmes for 2,000 farming households, vocational skills training for 1,000 youth, enhanced access to basic services for 5,200 community members, emergency employment opportunities for 1,050 workers, governance training for 40 state and local government officials and Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) training for 1,800 community members. Furthermore, state and local government officials will be provided opportunities to learn from the Japanese experience on conflict recovery throughout this initiative.

“Nigeria is facing a protracted conflict in its North East region, all while the health and socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 are retracting development gains across its communities” said UNDP Resident Representative Mohamed Yahya. “We are grateful for the strategic partnership between the UNDP and the Government of Japan which will assist in Nigeria’s recovery through the provisioning of livelihood opportunities, training and strengthening of capacities and basic services to boost peace building and recovery efforts.”

The Government of Japan is a longstanding partner of the UNDP both globally and in Nigeria, with strong support towards the realization of human security. To date, the Government of Japan has allocated over 25 million dollars, for the recovery and peacebuilding of conflict-affected regions in Nigeria.

About the Support for stabilization and early recovery of the conflict-affected communities in North-East Nigeria Project

The project aims to support stabilization and early recovery in the conflict-affected communities in the north-east Nigeria. Building on the lessons and successful results of the former UNDP projects in the region, the supports to the communities will be provided using UNDP integrated community stabilization and resilience building approach for the proposed three outputs: livelihood and economic opportunities of the target communities are improved, basic services are restored with local governance strengthened in target states, mechanisms for enhancing social cohesion and community security is strengthened. 

Under the project, 2,000 crop farmers households will improve their agricultural skill, 1,000 youth have opportunities of 2-month vocational training and business start-up cash grant, Village Saving and Loan Associations (VSLAs) in the communities will be strengthened for access to finance of the over 1,500 members, 5,200 will benefit from improved access to basic services, with 1,050 workers employed. Three state government high officials will have learning experience on recovery of Japan, 1,800 community members (inc. no less than 720 women) will be trained to prevent Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBVs), and 12 local platform will be set up to continuous prevention.

For more information and media enquiries contact:

At the UNDP:

Alison Clement – Communications Specialist, UNDP Nigeria | +234 701 590 6558| alison.clement@undp.org 

At the Government of Japan:

Ose Tae – Focal person, Japan Embassy in Nigeria |tae.ose@mofa.go.jp