UN plans $1bn humanitarian development fund for northeast.
NAN-H-122
Fund
Isaac Aregbesola
Abuja, Feb. 16, 2017 (NAN) The United Nations says it is planning to raise one billion dollar (about N314.8 billion) for humanitarian needs of persons affected by Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria’s North-East zone.
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Edward Kallon, stated this at a media breakfast meeting in Abuja on Thursday.
He said that no fewer than 450,000 children were likely to suffer from acute malnutrition in Borno this year.
Kallon observed that Federal Government may have been overwhelmed by the prolonged conflict in the region, making it more difficult to help those affected to recover, rebuild and resettle.
“There are 14 million people that have been affected by the Boko Haram and the plan is to assist 6.9 million and expect the government to provide assistance for the remaining 7.1 million people.
“The Humanitarian Response Plan 2017 for Nigeria seeks more than 1 billion dollars to meet the needs of the 6.9 million people targeted.
“An international conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin is being organised in Oslo, Norway next week and we are hoping to raise more than this amount (1 billion dollars) at the end of the conference,” he said.
Kallon described the conference as “a great opportunity for the international community to make meaningful commitments towards funding our humanitarian response activities”.
He stressed that the conference would also present an opportunity for the Government of Nigeria to tell the world the true extent of the North-East crisis.
According to him, over 50 per cent of displaced people in Nigeria’s northeast region are children.
“The UN estimates that over the next 12 months, around 450,000 children will suffer from acute malnutrition in Borno alone,” he said.
The UN official said that in spite of the challenging scenario, some important achievements had been made by humanitarian organisations in the region.
According to him, food assistance grew from 600,000 people in August, 2016 to 2.1 million in December, 2016, a 350 per cent increase from the preceding year.
“Also, of the 900,000 people targeted last year (2016) for Non-Food Item (NFI) support and emergency shelter assistance, 82 per cent received NFI and 13 per cent, shelter.
“This is apart from around 160,000 children that were treated for acute malnutrition, 200,000 conflict-affected children that received education in a protective and safe learning environment.
“And, 1.7 million people, who received protection services that surpassed the 1.6 million target,” he said.
Kallon said that as the humanitarian community scaled up its interventions in the region there were 8.5 million people in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe, who still needed assistance.
He said that out of the number, 6.9 million persons who were most-critically in need would be targeted by humanitarian partners.
He also expressed fear that there may be a repeat of the 2016 situation when UN humanitarian activities were severely hampered by funding shortfall as only 53 per cent of projected funding had been received.
The UN official said that such situation would expose vulnerable children, women, girls and youths to risks that Nigeria may lack the capacity to deal with in the future. (NAN)
IAA/OPI/OPI
Edited by Olisa Ifeajika