Mrs Liz Ahua, Outgoing Regional Representative, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), West Africa said the agency plans to eradicate or reduce statelessness in ECOWAS member countries by 2024.
She made this known while fielding reporters’questions at the sideline of the valedictory programme organised by UNHCR Nigeria in Abuja.
Ahua proceeds to Democratic Republic of Congo as UNHCR’s Country Representative.
According to her, a stateless person is that person that has no access to any right in a country.
“You may be sitting in Nigeria and you think you are a Nigerian but when the chips are down, you need passport, for your child to go to school and you need to present documentation then you find out you actually do not belong to that country.
“So you cannot have access to any rights in a particular country,” she said.
Ahua said that UNHCR has been working with the ECOWAS Commission since 2015 in order to eradicate statelessness, adding that the number of people are increasing.
“We decided to go through the ECOWAS Commission, especially its commission for Social Affairs since 2015, we have been working in very close proximity.
“ECOWAS has adopted across the board our work methodology in the region today, we have 12 out of the 15 countries that have signed the conventions, they have also established work plans.
“So progressively, information is going out to people to sensitise them to know more about statelessness, to also sensitise them to establish the kind of programmes that will make it easy for people to become less expose to statelessness”.
She explained that for this to be achieved it would start with registration and also knowing your populations as a country.
She said that ECOWAS region is working on issues of census, documentation and identity cards, adding that UNHCR do not work alone but with the governments, civil societies and the media.
Ahua said that by October 2019 member states would be ask to present their engagements and specific action they would carry out to eradicate statelessness completely.
The Outgoing Regional Representative, advised Nigerians on examplenary life.
She said that Nigerians should brace up to their responsibility, be good example to others.
“My message to Nigeria, the government and the people as a Nigerian is that we have a huge responsibility to help the continent.
” Because out of 10 African refugees about five are Nigerians, that is why my advice is that we must be of good example.
“If we must deal with the Nigerian crises all hands must be on deck to stop the crises in the North East which is really dragging our development.
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