NGOs commit N6.675m to IDPs in Lagos, Benue

People for Better Livelihoods (PBL) and Sesor Empowerment Foundation (Sesor), non-governmental organisations (NGOs), signed a N6,675,000 MOU to support internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Lagos and Benue.

This agreement builds on a successful long standing partnership the two NGOs have had since 2014. PBL, a grooming centre, has been supporting Sesor through various stages of its relief and rehabilitative work for IDPs in eight states.

Their partnership kicked off with grooming centre funding Sesor’s relief missions for displaced persons to Benue (caused by herdsmen attacks) and then later in 2014, to Plateau, Gombe and Adamawa.

Their support resulted in the publishing of Sesor’s ground-breaking collaborative publication (‘Do they know it is Christmas?’) which told the stories of some displaced persons in certain camps in the three states.

In 2015, Sesor learnt that there were displaced persons who had fled the from the North East to Lagos and partnered with grooming centre to bring relief to them.

A year later, both NGOs partnered to provide micro-loans of N20,000 each to them in a 6-month pilot economic empowerment project supporting displaced women to start up micro-businesses in Lagos.

The pilot proved a success with 76percent of the women paying the micro-loans fully by due date.

The new MOU doubles the loan amounts for the women who completed the first pilot; provides new loans of N30,000 each for 25 new participants in the Lagos project; funds a relief mission to Benue to support persons displaced by herdsmen attacks and; provides a grant to cover 10percent of Sesor’s core operational budget for advocacy and other programme-related work.

Speaking at the cheque presentation ceremony in their head office in Lagos, Godwin Nwabunka, the CEO of Grooming Centre, said: “We recognize the need to support our brothers and sisters displaced all over Nigeria”.

“They need sustainable livelihoods and all kinds of support and that is why we appreciate the multi-faceted approach Sesor has adopted to help the displaced rebuild their lives and have a strategic partnership with Sesor.

“Grooming Centre believes in supporting the economically poor continuously until they get out of poverty and thus, are providing even more finance for the 16 women who were part of the pilot so they can make even more progress on their journey out of poverty while helping 25 more displaced women start their own journey out of poverty.

“We are also committed to supporting Sesor’s relief and advocacy work across Nigeria.”

In response to the CEO’s remark, Ier Jonathan-Ichaver, Sesor’s executive director, said: “We appreciate Grooming Centre for their long-standing support since 2014”.

“Grooming Centre has been pivotal in supporting the work and raising awareness about displacement issues – funding work on issues that many have refused to acknowledge.

“This MOU is currently our highest-value MOU and signifies Grooming Centre’s belief in our work and in Nigeria.  We look forward to doing even more to help the displaced persons we serve survive and build their lives back even better than before.”