THE United Nations Development Program (UNDP) says 23% of households in the North East were headed by women following devastation by Boko Haram insurgency.
Mr Joerg Kuehnel, the UNDP Regional Coordinator, said this while fielding questions with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Maiduguri on Tuesday.
Kuehnel said the figure was arrived at following a survey conducted by the organisation.
“We have discovered that 23% of households in the North East are headed by women; This means that we really have to focus on providing dedicated support to these households.
“First, you support the vulnerable, then give opportunities to other households too. That has been our approach,” he said.
Kuehnel said the main target of the UNDP was to stabilise the situation in the North East.
“The crisis needs to be addressed from a predominantly humanitarian angle in the next 18 months.
“Personally, I think that is achievable. It is a challenging vision, challenging mostly because of the security situation.
“So, it is really important that we find way to deal with the insurgency by addressing the root causes,“he said.
He said that military action alone cannot end the insurgency and advised the Federal Government to address the root causes as well.
Kuehnel said although the military had done an outstanding job in fighting the insurgents, other options must be pursued to end the crisis.
“The military has done an outstanding job in trying to stabilise the North East,” he stressed.