By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA—Federal government through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is convening a two day Engagement Forum with local and international stakeholders in Maiduguru, Borno State to bring relief, restoration and rehabilitation to Internally Displaced Persons in the North-East.

The interactive forum tagged “North-East Humanitarian Multi-Stakeholder Engagement: Coordination, Communication and Cooperation would hold on Tuesday at the Multi-Purpose Hall in the Borno State Government House.

A statement from the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande stated that the forum is expected to establish a framework for coordination by bringing key stakeholders together to produce a blueprint for best practices and ensure  an articulated response to emergencies and humanitarian challenges in the three most affected states of the North East; Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe States.

According to the statement, “This interactive forum with relevant international and local NGOs,  development partners, aid & donor agencies will create an enabling platform to discuss the most efficient approaches to adopt towards complementing efforts of the Federal and State Governments with specialized services in the affected areas and thereby ensure a sustained and coherent system for social services delivery in the region.

“It will put in focus, the desirability for complementary, results-driven, goals-targeted collaboration of efforts among the Federal and State Governments, Non Governmental Organizations’ and other stakeholders within the framework of the Federal Government’s plan in both the short and long term. “The forum will also strengthen stakeholders’ coordination and management efforts, in order to ensure that NGOs are provided with adequate capacity for optimal service delivery as well as services provided by these NGOs having the widest impact in target areas.

“Stakeholders are expected to deliberate on a workable draft that harmonizes the joint efforts concerned with the Internally Displaced and Nigerian refugees in general. “This engagement forum with the active involvement of NEMA and other developmental partners is expected to achieve improvement in the coordination of relevant stakeholders, harmonized channels for supporting humanitarian assistance,  mapping and endorsing sound protocol for sharing information between stakeholders and the public.”

“Participating NGOs will be eligible for the grants programme of  the Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE), a program  designed to run for 12 months with the goal of increasing the impact of NGO activities in the North East. “They will also benefit from a 6-month training program by PINE aimed at building their capacities in project reporting, monitoring, alternative dispute resolution and financial management. Participants that require specialized programme training will also be catered for.”