UNFPA Nigeria organised the national launch of UNFPA@50 and ICPD@25 on the 8th July, 2019 at Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja. The objective of the launch was to share experience on key achievements and impact of UNFPA intervention in the country, lessons learned, best practices, and the journey to Nairobi Summit on ICPD. Over 100 participants made up of 30 Ambassadors and representatives of the donor community, the UN Resident Coordinator and heads of UN agencies, representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), including 5 Acting Ministers/Permanent Secretaries, heads of civil society organization, INGOs, NGOs, youth and women organizations and media communities, attended the events. The celebration provided the opportunity to look forward beyond the 25 years of ICPD and deepen UNFPA’s impact such as communicating new goals and development, their significance, and the roles of all stakeholders and individuals in the accomplishment of the new goals. The National celebration also provided a platform to officially launch of the State of the World Population 2019.
The Ambassador of Norway Embassy, Mission Director of the USAID, Country Director of DFID and the Acting Minister/Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning gave goodwill messages at the event. In their messages, they congratulated UNFPA for the enormous impact achieved for women and girls in its 50 years of existence. They also acknowledged that the ICPD implementation in 25 years is worth the celebration as tremendous results have been achieved since 1994, emphasizing that the health status of most women has improved globally. They further reiterated that there is a need to concentrate efforts on the unfinished business of the ICPD as UNFPA plans for the Nairobi Submit on ICPD in November 2019.
The UNFPA Regional Ambassador for the West and Central Africa Region - Ms. Stephanie Linus gave her goodwill message and appealed to the donors at the events to fund programmes around women and girls. She emphasized the role of women and girls in national development and the need to prioritize programmes that will enable them to contribute positively to the development of the country.
The Resident Coordinator, UN systems in Nigeria, Mr. Edward Kallon gave the Keynote address on ‘ICPD@25: The Unfished business’ In the presentation, he highlighted that the Cairo Agenda 25 years ago is yet to be fully realized for all people in all places including Nigeria. He informed that there are still 214 million women who want to prevent pregnancy but are not using a modern method of contraceptive (20% unmet need in Nigeria). Worldwide, 800 women die from preventable causes during pregnancy and childbirth every day; and in Nigeria 111 women die daily during childbirth. Untold millions of women affected by war or disaster are cut off from RH services; (In NE Nigeria, of 7.1 million affected people, 2.3 girls and 1.6 women need services). The total fertility rate is still very high in many developing countries (it is 5.5 in Nigeria). The world population has grown from 3.6 billion in 1969 to 7.7 billion today (in Nigeria from 140.4 million in 2006 to 198 million in 2018). He invited the donor community and all the countries represented to attend the Kenya summit in November 2019 and make commitments that will lead to the achievement of the ICPD dream by 2030.
The celebration concluded with the launch of the State of the World Population Report for 2019 by the Acting Chairman of the National Population Commission in collaboration with the Resident Coordinator and the Ambassadors of Norway and Togo.
The UNFPA Assistant Representative, Mr. Adonri Osaretin gave the vote of thanks. He appreciated the guest for honoring UNFPA at the event and solicited their continuous support to ensure the achievement of the three zeros by the year 2030.
