From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The United Nations have allocated $13.4 million (about N5 billion) to support those in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in the northeast affected by over seven years Boko Haram insurgency.
The fund which was released through the Nigerian Humanitarian Fund (NHF), a special support fund, was to assist about 8.5 million children, women and men in need of life-saving aid in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe affected by the violence, UN said on Monday in a statement by its Nigerian office. The fund is allocated for this year, it added.
“The United Nations, through the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund, has allocated $13.4 million to help thousands of children, women and men in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in crisis-hit north-east Nigeria.
“The Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) allocation will help address this devastating situation by financing 24 projects in the sectors of protection, nutrition, water and sanitation, health, education, shelter and non-food items, rapid response and early recovery, targeting a total of 950,000 people,” the world body said.
UN said the funds will be used to expand and improve sexual and reproductive health services for about 130,000 women and adolescent girls especially in Borno, the epicentre of the crisis. It said it plans to boost “mental health services for vulnerable children, women and men.” It will also address gender-based violence through provision of more accessible medical care, provide water and sanitation to forestall outbreak of water-borne diseases among others.
It described the challenges in the northeast as one of the most severe humanitarian emergencies in the world.