The United Arab Emirates has stated that it is ready to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda by helping to fund any initiatives that would help Nigeria eradicate poverty by the year 2030 and reduce the number of humanitarian crises.
Salem Saeed Al- Shamsi, the UAE ambassador to Nigeria, made this clear when he hosted Dr. Betta Edu, the minister for humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, in his office while she was in Abuja, the country’s capital, for a working visit.
The Envoy, who identified Nigeria as his country, declared that because he is both the United Arab Emirates’ and Nigeria’s representative, he is devoted to Nigeria.
Speaking, the Minister said that her visit to the Ambassador was a follow-up to the discussion with the UAE Government at the UNGA meeting.
She said Nigeria – UAE bilateral cooperation has made the two countries recognise their areas of common comparative advantages.
According to the Minister, climate change is one of the factors responsible for the humanitarian and poverty crisis in Nigeria.
“With the floods, drying up of the Lake Chad basin and other natural disasters associated with climate change, many Nigerians have been displaced and have lost their source of livelihood resulting in humanitarian crises and poverty”, Edu explained.
She assured the Ambassador that she would be in the team led by President Bola Tinubu to attend the Cop 28 which will be the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference.
“Climate change is one of the factors responsible for Humanitarian Crises and multiculti-dimensionality poverty in Nigeria. This is evident from temperature increase, rainfall variability, drought, desertification, rising sea levels, erosion, floods, thunderstorms, bushfires, landslides, land degradation, more frequent, extreme weather conditions, and loss of biodiversity as well as drying of the Lake chad basin by climate change”, she maintained.
The Minister also noted that all these factors continue to negatively affect the population adding that the President is committed to addressing these and the UAE should support them.
