The United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) have pledged to strengthen their cooperation to address Nigeria’s development and humanitarian challenges and improve the lives of citizens.
The commitment was announced on Thursday in Abuja by UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohammed Fall, and Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Gautier Mignot.
They spoke at the EU-UN strategic dialogue, which focused on strengthening collaboration, improving project implementation and maximising the impact of development interventions across the country.
The meeting also examined opportunities for cooperation under UN reform, including partnerships involving the EU, its member states and UN agencies.
Fall described the EU as one of the UN’s major global partners, providing financial and other forms of assistance. He said the partnership had supported projects worth about $400 million in Nigeria.
“There are a lot of issues and questions around multilateralism and international solidarity, but the UN and the EU stand together to support solidarity between countries, multilateralism, development and humanitarian assistance,” Fall said.
He explained that the two institutions regularly review their partnership to identify areas for improvement, address challenges and reinforce their commitment to shared development goals.
Fall also called for greater engagement from the Nigerian government, particularly through increased domestic resource mobilisation to tackle development gaps and humanitarian needs.
“We need to work together and have the Nigerian government increase its engagement and mobilisation of domestic resources to tackle the development gaps, as well as humanitarian assistance needs in the country,” he said.
Mignot identified education, governance, democracy, human rights and security as key areas of cooperation between the EU and the UN, describing them as critical to achieving the objectives of their joint investments.
He said the strategic dialogue would help improve project delivery and ensure that Nigerians benefit more directly from development interventions.
“We have reviewed our portfolio of projects, some 32 projects, more than half a billion dollars’ worth of EU-funded projects working with 16 UN agencies,” Mignot said.
According to him, the partnership combines EU funding with the UN’s technical and political expertise to support development initiatives across Nigeria.
He added that the collaboration involves Nigerian authorities at both federal and state levels, with the partners working to align their interventions with the country’s development priorities.
Mignot said stronger coordination among the EU, UN agencies and government institutions would help ensure that investments translate into tangible benefits for Nigerians.
The dialogue comes amid continued calls for stronger international cooperation to address Nigeria’s development needs and humanitarian challenges.
