Kabiru Tanimu, the minister of Special Duties and Inter- Governmental Affairs at the one-day Stakeholders’ Meeting for preparation of the 2013 world Humanitarian Day urged the participants to prepare a  well articulated and coordinated programme to make the commemoration exceptional, being the first to hold under his watch as Minister.

Dr. Anthonia Ekpa, Director, planning, Research and Statistics, who was represented the Minister made the remarks on 3^rd July, 2013 at the SGF Conference Hall, Federal Secretariat, Abuja  while declaring open the Stakeholders’ Meeting.

He stated that the criteria for the nomination of recipients must be one that agrees with the approval of the general public and further enjoined the meeting to set clear criteria for constituting the selection committee.

The World Humanitarian Day has been fixed for 19th August of every year by the United Nations General Assembly at its 63^rd session on 11^th December, 2008, to commemorate the brutal attacks on the United Nations Headquarters in Baghdad, when twenty two people lost their lives, including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello.

Moreover, Nigeria has since August, 2012, joined the global community in commemorating the World Humanitarian Day and as such, became the first country in the ECOWAS region to key into this global initiative.

Participants from MDAs, UN Agencies, NGOs Security Agencies and the Media at the  Stakeholders’ Meeting has be drawn by the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, supervised by the Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs responsible for providing a common platform to plan for the event which is to take place in Nigeria.