The United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) have pledged to deepen their cooperation to address Nigeria’s development challenges and improve the lives of citizens.

UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohammed Fall, and Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Gautier Mignot, announced the commitment in Abuja on Thursday.

They spoke at the EU-UN strategic dialogue, which examined ways to strengthen cooperation, improve project delivery and achieve greater development impact across the country.

The meeting also explored collaboration under UN reform, including partnerships between the EU, its member states and UN agencies.

Fall described the EU as one of the UN’s major global partners, providing both financial assistance and other forms of support. He said the partnership had translated into projects worth about $400 million in Nigeria.

“There are a lot of issues and questions around multilateralism and international solidarity, but the UN and the EU stand together to support solidarity between countries, multilateralism, development and humanitarian assistance,” Fall said.

He explained that both institutions regularly review their partnership to identify areas for improvement, address challenges and renew their commitment to shared development objectives.

Fall also called for stronger engagement from the Nigerian government, particularly in mobilising domestic resources to address development gaps and humanitarian needs.

“We need to work together and have the Nigerian government increase its engagement and mobilisation of domestic resources to tackle the development gaps, as well as humanitarian assistance needs in the country,” he said.

Mignot identified education, governance, democracy, human rights and security as priority areas for EU-UN cooperation. He described these sectors as critical to achieving the objectives of their joint investments.

He said the strategic dialogue would help both institutions improve the implementation of their projects and ensure that Nigerians benefit more directly from their interventions.

“We have reviewed our portfolio of projects, some 32 projects, more than half a billion dollars’ worth of EU-funded projects working with 16 UN agencies,” Mignot said.

He explained that the partnership combines EU funding with the UN’s technical and political expertise to support development initiatives across Nigeria.

According to Mignot, the collaboration also involves Nigerian authorities at federal and state levels, with both sides working to align their interventions with the country’s development priorities.

He said closer coordination among the EU, UN agencies and government institutions would help ensure that their investments deliver practical results for Nigerians.

The dialogue comes amid continuing calls for stronger international cooperation to address development needs and humanitarian challenges in Nigeria.