Buhari To Address UN On Plight Of Lake Chad Basin Residents

The plight of the over nine million people in the Lake Chad Basin is one of the topics President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria will present before world leaders when he addresses them on Monday.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who is in New York for the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly, is one of the five speakers scheduled to address the plenary session.

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Muhammadu Buhari, Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari
He is also expected to sign the Paris Agreement on Climate Change while attending a series of high level meetings, including one with the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Some of those on the president’s entourage are the National Security Adviser, Major General Babagana Munguno and the Minister of the Interior, General Abdulrahman Danbazzau.

Others are the Minister of Solid Minerals Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the Environment Minister, Amina Mohammed and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Diaspora Matters, Abike Dabiri Erewa. 

President Buhari arrived at the JFK International Airport at about 7.30 p.m. local time on Saturday, (Sunday, 1:30 a.m. Nigerian time), was received by the Nigerian Charge De Affairs In New York, Mr Anthony Bosa.

Some of the persons that received the president are the National Security Adviser and the Minister of Interior.

President Buhari will join over 190 world leaders on Monday, for a high level opening meeting, which will address issues regarding large movements of refugees and migrants.

On Monday, the President will also be attending the AU Peace and Security Council meeting at the AU Observer Mission Office, before meeting with the British Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mr Matthew Rycroft CBE.

The United Nations has said that at least nine million people are in urgent need of aid in Nigeria’s northeast and neighbouring countries.

The UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator, Toby Lanzer, said at least $559 million would be needed in the next four months to ease the crisis in Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad.

He said more than six million people were “severely food insecure” with 568,000 children acutely malnourished adding that the UN has appealed to Britain and other western governments for help.
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UNICEF fears 49,000 children, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are in risk of death in the region
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had also warned of the worsening condition of children around the Lake Chad who face acute malnutrition.

The UN Agency explained that of the 475,000 deemed at risk, 49,000 in Borno State will die in 2014 if they do not receive treatment.

As a result of the growing crisis, the agency has been forced to review its funding needs to $308 million to help support people affected by Boko Haram in four countries that border Lake Chad – Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.

‘Save Lake Chad’ 

President Muhammadu Buhari had in August urged rich countries to do something urgent to save the Lake Chad from extinction, arising from the effects of climate change.

Receiving the Director-General of UNESCO, Mrs Irina Bokova, in Abuja on Thursday, President Buhari warned that the failure to regenerate the Lake Chad will lead to another round of migration by the people living in the areas.

The President, who led seven ministers to an interactive meeting with the UNESCO chief, said Nigeria and the other countries of the Lake Chad Basin lacked the billions of dollars required to channel water from the Congo Basin into the lake to check its rapid depletion.