From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The United Kingdom (UK), has brokered the first G7 action plan geared towards the provision of humanitarian assistance, particularly in combating hunger in the North East to the tune of £276 million.
The support, the United Kingdom said, would ensure people in crisis-ridden areas have access to food, clean water and sanitation and that children have access to lifesaving malnutrition treatment and that all civilians are protected from violence.
The amount which was part of a global £5 billion aid to 42 countries who were one step from famine or catastrophe, had £1 billion prioritised to three countries at greatest risk, namely: Yemen (£578), South Sudan (£246) and Nigeria (£276).
The Nigeria Policy and Communications Manager, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office,British High Commission, Abuja, Elva Lynch-Bathgate, disclosed the development in a statement in Abuja.
Lynch-Bathgate added that Tigray in Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso and the Central Sahel, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Sudan and Syria were also of particular concern to the G7.
Reacting to the move by the G7 to stem the spate of humanitarian crisis in the Northeast, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, said: “I welcome the G7’s commitment of £276 million for North East Nigeria. It is vital we act now to avert further deterioration in the food security situation of millions of people affected by the conflict.
“Just as the UK is working with Nigerian partners to find solutions to the crisis in the North East, the G7 are working together to find global solutions to global problems and protect those hardest hit by these challenges. Together we can shape a better future.”
Lynch-Bathgate further recalled that the UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, had announced last week at the end of the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers Meeting that the UK was driving coordinated action to tackle shared global challenges of COVID-19, famine and climate change.