The Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) has earmarked $22.4 million to address the increasing needs of people affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and the humanitarian crisis in northeast Nigeria, specifically Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa States.
The insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast remains one of the most severe humanitarian crises in the world, with 1.8 million internally displaced persons living in host communities needing humanitarian assistance for their survival.
Development Diaries gathered that the United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, said, ‘Before and during the Covid-19 response, the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund has proven to be a rapid and flexible funding tool enabling aid actors to adapt to fast-changing humanitarian emergencies.
‘With the new [Covid-19] virus now spreading across the country, the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund swiftly provided emergency funds to procure essential personal protective equipment for frontline aid workers when the pandemic reached Nigeria.
‘This allocation will further support urgent efforts in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe State.’
With 7.9 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance before the Covid-19 crisis, according to estimates by the United Nations and its partners, the staggering figure is expected to increase as the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic begins to create the need for assistance, which will include food security, health services and livelihoods.
‘The impact of Covid-19 has made it even more essential for donors to contribute to the NHF and support aid organisations in adapting their response and providing critical life-saving assistance in north-east Nigeria’, Kallon added.
With a total of $246 million needed for Covid-19 humanitarian actions in the northeast, and an additional $834 million to provide urgent aid to 5.9 million people across the aforementioned states, the allocated funding will help ensure thate vulnerable populations get critical and life-saving assistance.
Source: Nigeria Humanitarian Fund
Photo source: World Bank Photo Collection
