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The United Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator, Achim Steiner, are set for a joint mission to Nigeria and Chad from October 5-7. The UN principals will be in Nigeria on Friday and leave for Chad later on Saturday.

The joint mission comes one month after the High-level Conference on the Lake Chad Region, which held in Berlin from September 3-4. Germany co-hosted the event with Nigeria, Norway and the UN. The 27 nations and 24 regional and international organisations, and representatives of national and international civil society at the conference made commitments on scaling up humanitarian assistance, crisis prevention and stabilisation, and development cooperation. About $2.17 billion financial support in grants and $467 million in concessional loans were announced at the conference.

The two UN Principals will be discussing with partners and governments on how to translate the commitments made during the conference into practical actions on the ground.

In Nigeria, Lowcock, who is also the Head of UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and Steiner will have a high-level meeting with government officials and representatives of the humanitarian, development and donor communities. On October 6, they will travel to Borno State to visit one internally displaced persons’ camp, a transition centre and a rebuilt community.

According to a statement by the United Nations, humanitarian crisis in the north-eastern part of the country has spread across the Lake Chad region, and remains severe with 7.7 million people in urgent need of assistance. Humanitarian and development partners are linking up efforts to respond to the devastating consequences of the ongoing violence in the region while seeking to promote sustainable solutions for affected communities.

The United Nations has stepped up coordination to improve resilience and self-reliance of local communities through the restoration of basic services such as water and electricity, the rehabilitation of schools and hospitals and emergency jobs programmes.

In Chad, the UN officials are expected to meet with President Idriss Déby, senior government officials as well as humanitarian and development partners. On October 7, they will visit a nutrition centre in N’Djamena where international nongovernmental organisations and UN agencies are treating malnourished children as the country battles one of its worst nutrition crisis.

According to the statement, a third of Chad’s population, or equivalent of 4.9 million people, urgently need humanitarian assistance due to food insecurity, malnutrition, and health emergencies. The joint mission provides an opportunity to assess the coordination of UN on the ground, to mobilise resources to address longer-term need, and seek further commitments from the government and other partners.