Society

Gov’t in search of 230 billion FCFA to support 2.3 million vulnerable persons.

MINAT boss, Atanga Nji, shaking hands with UN Resident Coordinator, Siaka Coulibaly

Government has through the Ministry of Territorial Administration, MINAT, announced she is in need of at least 230 billion FCFA, to succour some 2.3 million vulnerable persons nationwide.
The announcement was made Wednesday in Yaounde, by the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji.

This was during a ceremony to launch Cameroon’s 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan.

Representatives of partner organisations, amongst them the United Nations, UN, as well as other officials attended the event.

Atanga Nji declared that statistics from the United Nations show Cameroon has over 3.4 million people who are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection.

The government, he said, is in need of some 230 billion FCFA to assist the vulnerable population in the country.

The 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan, he added, targets some 2.3 million people out of the 3.4 million persons who have been affected by crises.

He indicated that the figures represent persons who have been victims of conflicts, climate shocks and diseases outbreak.

Minister Atanga Nji used the ceremony to appeal to donors and funding agencies to provide more support given the increasing need in the country.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Cameroon, Siaka Coulibaly, who lived the event thanked the government for launching a humanitarian response plan.

Focus this year, Siaka Coulibaly said, will be on the population affected by the crises in the Far North, North West, South West and East Regions and the Lake Chad Basin. These administrative units, the UN official said, have the highest number of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs.

Siaka intimated that this year, “the priority areas are mainly around support to the vulnerable people and the government to have access to basic necessities like education, shelter….”

He declared the willingness of the UN to support government in making real the response plan.

The UN official equally saluted Cameroonians for being hospitable to the over 650,000 refugees in the country.

Siaka appealed to partners to support the response plan to ensure the vulnerable are not forgotten.

To note that the Humanitarian Response Plan is a programme put in place by the government and its partners to provide life-saving assistance and protection to the vulnerable population.

The plan seeks to provide the affected population, mostly composed of women and children, with basic needs like shelter, healthcare, food, education, protection, non-food items among others.