Buratai pledges support for UNDP in North/East

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, has said the Nigerian Army will provide the needed support for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the North-East.

Buratai made the pledge when the UNDP Resident Representative Designate to Nigeria, Mr Mohammed Yahaya, paid him a courtesy visit on Monday in Abuja.

He disclosed that the Nigerian Army also had a stabilisation plan for the North-East, adding that the army will continue to provide support for all UN humanitarian agencies.

According to him, the UN is a great and a global institution that has done a lot in providing humanitarian assistance to affected regions in Africa which the army is ready to support.

He said that the army would support all NGOs and UNDP by providing an enabling environment for peace and security to enable them to carry out their assignments.

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Earlier, Yahaya told COAS that his visit was to introduce himself to the army chief and as well brief him on the planned activities of UNDP in the northeast.

He said the UNDP team were in the region to see how to assist the Nigerian government in the area of stabilisation of the communities affected by the activities of Book Haram insurgency.

Some of the programmes, according to the UNDP representative, included the livelihood programme, provision of infrastructure and reconstruction of the destroyed communities.

Yahaya, however, solicited for partnership from the Nigerian army to ensure that the UNDP programme was successfully implemented, adding that speed is key.

“I have come to introduce myself to you and to also brief you on what the agency is doing in the North-East as well as what the UNDP is trying to initiate in the region,” he said.