President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday solicited the United Nations Development Programme’s intervention in the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons in the Northeast.
He spoke at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, while receiving Ahunna Eziakonwa, Head of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa.
Buhari said the UNDP deserved accolades for the assistance it had so far rendered to Nigeria in diverse ways, particularly in stabilizing the Northeast.
He said his government was doing its best to rehabilitate IDPs and return them to their ancestral homes, but noted that with meagre resources, assistance from bodies like the UNDP would come in handy.
He said as a developing nation, Nigeria “can’t do hop, step and jump, but must pass through the process of development,” adding that the help of international organizations are well appreciated”.
He thanked Nigerian-born Eziakonwa for her official visit, “and for coming home as well,” noting that herself, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of the World Trade Organization, and Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, were some of the women doing Nigeria proud internationally.
