Governor Ahmed Aliyu of Sokoto State has made an official request to the governing bodies of Switzerland for assistance and collaboration in the areas of education, the provision of healthcare, and overall human development.
Aliyu made the appeal while he was hosting Nicolas Lang, the Swiss Ambassador to Nigeria, for a courtesy call. Nicolas Lang was in Nigeria to represent Switzerland.
The governor made an appeal to Switzerland for assistance for the state of Sokoto in the areas of children who were not attending school, camps for internally displaced people, and vulnerable groups.
“In light of the assistance you are providing to our nation, Nigeria, each of these organizations is in desperate need of your serious support.
“My administration is always ready to collaborate with any country or body working towards making the lives of our people better,” he added. “The lives of our people are our top priority.”
He expressed his gratitude to the Envoy for making the trip and reassured him that his administration is prepared to work together with his country to advance the goals of the state as a whole.
Earlier, Lang, who was represented by Nicholas Martins, the Press Secretary for Humanitarian and Development Cooperation, informed the governor that Switzerland has been implementing humanitarian projects in close collaboration with the government of Nigeria since 2014. Lang made this statement on behalf of Nicholas Martins.
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According to him, they had concentrated a lot of their efforts on North-East Nigeria in order to help the people who had been affected by the Boko Haram uprising.
“However, we have not been oblivious to the fact that there are also humanitarian needs in the North West region of the country as a direct result of the escalating banditry crisis.”
“We are doing advocacy at our level here at our headquarters to enable us to go beyond our area of focus so far, which was the North-East,” he added. “Our area of focus up until this point has been the North-East.”
Lang added that they were able to fund a project in Sokoto by partnering with Action Against Hunger, a non-governmental organization that will be implementing a project in Bodinga and Tambuwal Local Government Areas for a period of one year.
He stated that the project’s primary focuses are on nutrition, water, and sanitation, and that it is the first project of Switzerland’s to be carried out in the state.
He lauded the governor for the interest and dedication shown in working with their country to address humanitarian concerns and thanked the governor for his assistance.
