The
United Nations on Monday released 13 million dollars from the Central
Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to provide life-saving assistance to
250,000 people in the North-east area of Nigeria. Mr Stephen O’Brien, UN
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief
Coordinator, issued the release.
According to the UN, the destruction of
crops and looting of livestock have left many people unable to support
their families. “No fewer than 50,000 people need seeds and tools for
the upcoming planting season and CERF funding will help them to rebuild
their livelihoods.”
O’Brien said that a significant number
of women and girls, and also men and boys, have suffered or witnessed
terrible abuses. The CERF funds, he said, would enable humanitarian
partners to provide critical psychosocial support and protection
services.
“People have experienced unspeakable
suffering due to the violence perpetrated by Boko Haram. We now have
better access finally, and a chance to help them. The international
community must take advantage of this opening to reach people with
essential services and build on the CERF allocation to scale up the
response,” he said.
The fund, he added, would support the
provision of food, cash for food purchase, special child nutritional
supplements, protection and health services to the most vulnerable
people in the newly accessible areas through disbursements to the Food
and Agriculture Organisation. Others are through the UN Department for
Safety and Security, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF and World Food Programme.
The UN says the humanitarian Response
Plan for Nigeria was revised upwards by 51 million dollars in June. The
UN is also calling for additional 279 million dollars for the
humanitarian plan in Nigeria. To date, the UN said that the plan is only
22 per cent funded.
Credit: Vanguard
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