By Perpetua Onuegbu
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Mr Nentawe Yilwatda, has urged support from non-governmental organisations to solve humanitarian challenges of over 15 million poor households in Nigeria.
Yilwatda said this at the 47th Lions Day with the United Nations celebration in Abuja with the theme: “The Future of Service Assured through Collaborative Approach”.
According to him, the UN has been the strongest partner the country has in addressing humanitarian challenges confronting the country.
He said government cannot do it alone and needed the collaboration, commitment and courage by partners like the Lions club, that had been at the forefront of solving these challenges for over a century.
“I’ve come for us to stand together with the belief that the future of service is not just bright, it is assured, as long as we work together.
“We want to ensure that 15 million households benefit from 75000 naira but we are not just giving money, we are also giving financial literacy to them.
“We are supporting 15 million households, averaging at 4 people per household, targeting 60 million Nigerians to benefit from it.
“We’ve already had 5.5 million Nigerians benefit from it, so we are still left with nine plus million people that are still targets and that will be done before the year runs out.”
He said that in order to be impactful and reach the number of the people intended , collective goodwill must be translated to lasting change and not just temporary relief to people who are suffering.
“How do we make the next 46 years have greater impact and a lasting effect in the heart of people?
“The answer lay in what the lion stands for; collaboration, commitment and courage,”Yilwatda said.
Mrs Beatrice Eyong, Representative of the UN Women to Nigeria and ECOWAS, representing Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations at the event, said partnership remained key to solving human problems.
According to her, the partnership the UN has with the club is institutional partnership since 1945, that is focused on service to humanity, especially as it concerned the 17 goals of the sustainable development.
“Actually, what I will say is that they should continue to do what they have been doing and continue to work together within the organisation but continue also to improve on partnerships.
“Looking at the way we find ourselves in the world now, the fact that funding is reducing, some donor countries have totally reduced their funding. It, therefore, means there must be people who are willing to provide their services for the good of humanity and the environment.
“So Lions Club should continue what they are doing but should increase in its partnerships because the challenge is so big that we say they should also partner with other organisations and institutions to render service to humanity,” Eyong said.
Speaking also at the celebration, Mr Anogwi Anyanwu, Multiple Council Chairperson, Lions Club Nigeria, District 404, said the club wanted to use the theme of the year to build a network of assistance for humanity.
“We want to collaborate with other non-governmental organisations, the government, corporate organisations, so that we can mobilise resources to serve the needs of humanity in hunger relief, environmental sustainability, diabetes, eyesight preservation, humanitarian service, children’s cancer.
“These are problems that exist that sometimes, the people that it affects have no capacity to help themselves.
“So the job Lions do is to bring together, all the people with capacity to bring their time, treasure and talent so that we can solve humanity in need.
Anyanwu said the Lions Day with the United Nations is an international celebration and 2025 celebration would be in Lions Club locations in Nairobi Kenya, New York, and in Vienna, Austria and Nigeria.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the club was established in 1917 in Chicago, U.S., with focus on eight areas which included diabetes, sight, youth empowerment, pediatric cancer, among other humanitarian services.
NAN also reports that in 1978, the club started celebrating the relationship between it and the UN under Lions Day with the UN and this is the 47th edition.
NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA