Tayo Olanipekun
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide about $104 million in additional humanitarian assistance to Nigeria, bringing U.S monetary aid to the country to over $500m in 2020 and 2021.
This is in response to the ongoing crisis in Nigeria where an estimated 8.7 million people are at risk of insecurity and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The additional assistance will provide the urgently needed support for communities, including through food, health, nutrition, shelter, protection, water, sanitation, and hygiene, and humanitarian coordination programs, according to a statement made available to our correspondent on Monday.
Since 2015, violence and insecurity have driven people from their homes and exacerbated humanitarian needs in Northern Nigeria.
The COVID-19 pandemic has further impacted food insecurity, raised protection concerns including the risk of gender-based violence, and reduced access to basic necessities such as safe drinking water, nutrition, and shelter.
Escalating displacement in the northern part of Nigeria especially poses health risks for internally displaced persons sheltering in camps and host communities, including increased transmission risk of coronavirus COVID-19.
As the single largest donor for the humanitarian response in Nigeria, the U.S provided nearly $505 million in Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021, with a commitment to further help the people affected by this conflict in Nigeria.
In the Fiscal year 2020 alone, the U.S. Government provided more than $393 million in funding for the humanitarian response in Nigeria.
The U.S. calls on other donors to do the same by providing life-saving assistance to vulnerable Nigerians and the communities that host them.
These moves are coming as armed group activity continues to increase across Nigeria, resulting in additional displacement and insecurity across the country, including a spate of school kids abductions in recent weeks.
Disturbing images appeared online over the weekend showing the abductors of the students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Kaduna, whipping their victims as the helpless victims plead with the government to do whatever it takes to get them out of captivity.
