Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri

The United Nations has announced a $22. 4 million (about N9 billion) funding for vulnerable persons affected by COVID-19 and existing humanitarian crisis in the northeast states.

The UN in a statement on Monday said the money was provided under the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) to procure essential protective equipment for health workers in the frontline of COVID-19 pandemic in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states which are still grappling with over a decade Boko Haram violence.

‘The Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) announced a USD $22.4 million funding allocation for 2020 that will help address the increases vulnerability of people affected by both the COVID-19 pandemic and the existing humanitarian crisis,’ UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria Edward Kallon said.

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He explained that the NHF has proven to be a rapid funding tool to enable aids actors to adapt to ‘fast-changing humanitarian challenges in the three states.

‘The United Nations and humanitarian partners estimate that 7.9 million people were already in dire need of humanitarian assistance this year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,’ Kallon said

He said the number may increase as the effects of the pandemic fuel humanitarian needs.

About three million people have been displaced in the over a decade of Boko Haram violence in the northeast. The UN said the humanitarian crisis in the area remains among the most severe in the world today about 1.8 million people still taking shelter in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps.