TY Danjuma Foundation to disburse N212m to 21 humanitarian organisations
Disbursement
By Lizzy Okoji
Abuja, March 12, 2018 (NAN) The TY Danjuma Foundation (TYDF) says it will disburse N212 million to 21 humanitarian organisations and its partners for humanitarian interventions in the North-East and across the country.
Mr Gima Forje, Grants and Partnerships Officer, TY Danjuma Foundation, made this known on Monday in Abuja at a joint media briefing with its partners, Social Welfare Network Initiative (SWNI), a Non-Governmental Organisation.
According to Forje, the sum would be given to the organisations to provide life saving support to those affected by the humanitarian crises in the North-East and for other developmental projects across the country.
He said that SWNI, which has been its implementing partner since 2017 for interventions in the North-East would be given additional support to scale up its activities in 2018.
Forjie said that in 2018, the foundation would also broaden its interventions in the region to increase sustainable livelihood activities.
He explained that this would be achieved with a partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to ensure that women in affected areas acquire skills that would empower and sustain them.
Mrs Christine Inegbeboh, Programme officer, Health TYDF, also said that in 2018, there would be a significant scale up in its interventions in the North-East compared to 2017.
Inegbeboh said that SWNI was currently implementing TYDF funded Health and Nutrition food assistance including general food distribution targeting affected population in Maiduguri/Jere Local Government Area of Borno.
She disclosed that in 2018, TYDF through its partner, SWNI would distribute micro-nutrient based food and general food items to 715 displaced households and a total of 5,000 IDPs in Borno.
The TYDF Programme’s officer, said that this would be an increase from the 2,000 IDPs who benefitted in 2017.
She said that the grants would also be used to treat identified malnourished children.
According to her, the standard protocol will also improve the nutritional status of the 2,000 IDPs under five children using Vitamin A Supplement and Albendazole – Deworming treatment.
Inegbeboh said that part of the 2018 grants given to SWNI would target increasing the caseload of food assistance and to provide additional Nutritional intervention for pregnant and nursing mothers in the area.
She explained that this was in response to the influx and the need to include additional support to pregnant and nursing women.
Also speaking, Mr Emmanuel Osemeka, Country Director, SWNI, said that funding, inaccessibility to some communities and security continues to remain a huge challenge for humanitarian actors in the North-East.
Osaemeka said that reports have shown that an estimated 3 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, residing in inaccessible areas of Borno State.
He said that the humanitarian crisis in north-east Nigeria remains severe due to ongoing conflict, continued internal displacement and the unpredictable return of refugees from neighbouring countries.
“Since late October 2017, large-scale displacements have taken place in Borno and northern Adamawa, with influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pulka, Gwoza, Ngala, Monguno, Askira/Uba, Konduga, Bama and Mafa most notably.
“ In just three months, 28,000 have fled these areas and other locations for various reasons including voluntary relocation, insecurity and poor living conditions.
“ Another large-scale displacement took place along the Maiduguri-Monguno axis due to a surge in hostilities in the north-east of Borno.
“ Bio-metric verification are still ongoing in all the aforementioned locations but aid groups estimate that over 36,000 women, children and men have been displaced in recent months.
`Most of them are in dire need of food, water, shelter, blankets and clothes as well as medical care.
“Host communities are also extremely vulnerable and these newly displaced populations report that many more families remain in areas inaccessible to humanitarian workers,’’ Osaemeka said.
The TYDF and SWNI called on the Nigerian Government to put structures in place for more funding to reach more people and to address the huge humanitarian needs in the region.
They also urged the government to ensure the safety of humanitarian aid workers across the country. (NAN)
LIZ/AFA
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Edited by Felix Ajide