UN earmarks $20 million for humanitarian assistance in Northeast
By Njadvara MUSA, Maiduguri
The United Nations (UN) has earmarked $20 million (N13.2 billion) for humanitarian response to the worsening food security and nutrition crisis in the Northeast.
According to the UN, the $20 million fund will be raised from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CER) and the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF).
The UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Matthias Schmale, who disclosed this, yesterday (Tuesday), in Abuja, said: “In support of Government efforts, some $9 million in CERF funding and a complementary $11 million NHF allocation will go towards the coordination of multi-sectorial response.”
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He warned that the response was aimed at preventing the deterioration to the looming famine conditions in the region caused by conflict.
Besides the famine, he noted that about 700,000 children under five are likely to suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states in 2023.
Lamenting malnutrition among the children, he said: “This is more than double the number of SAM cases in 2022 and four times the number of cases in 2021.”
He further disclosed that over 500, 000 people in the insurgency affected three states; are projected to face emergency levels of food insecurity.
According to him, this is a step away from famine, as from June to August, is the peak of the lean season, as indicated in the March 2023 Cadre Harmonisé analysis.
Continued; “The lean season also coincides with the rainy season,” stating that this is when the incidence of acute watery diarrhoea, cholera, malaria and other diseases increases.
“These aggravate the precarious situation of malnourished children in the insurgency affected states.”
Schmale, therefore, predicted an extremely high rates of acute malnutrition and deaths, warning that; unless there is a rapid and significant scale up of humanitarian assistance.
He maintained that government, donors and the international community must make urgent funding available to protect the lives and future of vulnerable children in the region.
In a break down of disbursing $20 million, he said: “From the CERF allocation, $6 million, will go to the World Food Programme for food security interventions for 95,000 extremely food-insecure people in three garrison towns of Borno state.”
He said that this included ‘food and voucher assistance’ to the vulnerable persons affected in the 14-year conflict.
Continuing; “Some $2 million (N1.32 billion) will go to the UN Children’s Fund for the prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition (including providing ready-to-eat therapeutic food and Tom Brown solutions.”
According to him, the solutions, are a nutrient-rich locally produced supplementary food, while $1 million (N660 million) will go to the Food and Agriculture Organisation for seeds, tools and other agricultural livelihood support.
He added that the support was to boost local production of nutritious foods to build resilience in communities.
The NHF funding of $11 million (N7.26 million) will go towards improving access to clean water and sanitation hygiene and nutrition, including reactivating, sustaining and scaling up the bed capacity at stabilization centres.
“The UN will scale up outpatient therapeutic feeding programmes,” he said, stating that the rest of the funding will go to healthcare, including the integrated management of childhood illnesses and complicated SAM cases.
He said this will render protection services with a focus on gender-based violence, child protection and mine action.
Besides, he added that the NHF aims to allocate 50 per cent of funding to eligible national partners on the frontlines.
He noted that the 14-year conflicts continue to prevent many people from growing the food they need or earning an income to procure food.
