The federal government Tuesday reaffirmed its commitment to building a nationally owned government-led humanitarian coordination system as it formally commenced the transition of humanitarian coordination responsibilities under the One Humanitarian, One Poverty Response System (OHOPRS).
Speaking at the opening of the humanitarian transition workshop Tuesday in Abuja, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard M. Doro, said the transition marks a strategic shift from dependence on international humanitarian financing to a sustainable system driven by Nigerian institutions, domestic resources and government leadership.
The minister noted that the workshop comes at a defining moment for Nigeria’s humanitarian sector, as global humanitarian financing continues to decline and the international community increasingly encourages stronger national ownership and institutional sustainability.
He stated that Nigeria is embracing the transition not merely as a response to shrinking donor support but as a deliberate effort to establish a resilient humanitarian architecture capable of addressing both current and emerging humanitarian challenges.
The minister said the federal government established the OHOPRS as the country’s unified framework for humanitarian action, social protection and poverty reduction.
He added that the initiative is designed to eliminate fragmentation, reduce duplication and ensure that all available resources, whether domestic or international are coordinated through a single, accountable national system.
He clarified that the transition should not be viewed as the withdrawal of international support or merely the transfer of coordination functions from the United Nations to government, but rather as the operationalisation of a Nigerian owned humanitarian coordination framework that will endure beyond fluctuating donor funding cycles.