. . . Says $14 billion needed for humanitarian support worldwide
By Harrison Edeh, Abuja
As part of the World Humanitarian Day held on Wednesday in Abuja, the United Nations is pushing for further humanitarian support mainly from international and local donors for those adversely affected and ravaged by the insurgency in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria.
Mohammed El Munir A. Safieldin, Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for UN in Nigeria at the event in Abuja put the current figure of displaced persons in Nigeria due largely to the insurgency at 1.5 million. He called for more humanitarian assistance for various intervention programmes of both the Federal and State Governments.
The UN representative in Nigeria said: “Regrettably, Nigeria shares in over 100,000,000 million of those in dare need of humanitarian support globally, as a result of the insurgency in North-eastern part of the country. Thirty-seven countries are currently adversely affected by natural and man-made disasters globally, and $20 billion is needed to bridge the gap but $6 billion has been raised so far, leaving a deficit gap of $14 billion.
“Currently, an estimated population of five million people in Nigeria are in dare need of the humanitarian aid, and 1.5 million people are completely displaced from their homes due largely to the activities of the insurgents. An estimated 3.5 million people need food security and more shelter. Already nine percent is being supported with the needed humanitarian support by the host community and various other humanitarian supporters in the country”.
On the UN interventions in Nigeria, he said,”We have over 400 humanitarian workers from the United Nations working in Nigeria to provide emergency humanitarian aid and support. We are glad to say none of our workers has been consumed by the insurgency in the North-east. We work closely with the Nigerian government in providing the needed humanitarian aid and with several other non-governmental organisations”
He added: “We are working out programmes for children in order to ensure that children still in the Internally Displaced Persons Camps still live up their dreams. We have tents in the various camps where we offer support learning services for children in these camps so that they are not completely shut out in living their dreams”.
[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
He noted further that: “Technology could help us in sharing stories of suffering people and human suffering. We can contribute our efforts in mobilising others to respond better to human suffering around us and mobilising more financial support from donors. Let us also join the campaign in bringing more awareness to the grass root and in reaching out to the wider public. Technology and the media could offer a platform for motivation and giving hope to the suffering world.”