Boko Haram: UNICEF gets N750m Japanese grant for emergency intervention in North East

ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday received a grant of US $ 3.4m (or N750m) for Integrated Provision of Life-Saving Emergency Interventions for Vulnerable Populations in the north east of Nigeria.

The grant, given by the Japanese government, will be used for interventions focused on the Internally Displaced Persons and conflict affected populations in the north east in water sanitation and hygiene, health, nutrition, child protection and education.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]

The conflict in the north east of Nigeria especially in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa has caused large scale human suffering for the populations in the areas especially children and women. The conflict has triggered major population movements and the number of IDPs in the north east has almost doubled in less than a year, from an estimated 647,000 in May 2014 to what the International Office of Migration reports is now around 1.2 million.  Children make up about 56 per cent of those who have been internally displaced, with over half of them being five-years or younger.

“This grant is timely and will further boost the work UNICEF is doing in the northeast. It will make a significant lifesaving contribution to alleviate the suffering of the affected populations in the northeast especially children and women” said the Officer in charge UNICEF in Nigeria, Mr. Samuel Momanyi.‎

Since 2000, Japan has been a major donor to UNICEF supporting interventions in child survival, prevention of infectious diseases in children and emergency interventions in Nigeria, through the UNICEF/Federal Government of Nigeria Programme of Cooperation.

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“I earnestly hope that this grant aid will bring humanitarian assistance to the affected populations, especially children in the northeast of Nigeria”, said Mr. Masaya OTSUKA, Chargés d’Affaires ad interim of the Embassy of Japan in Nigeria.

“The Government of Japan will continue to cooperate with the people and Government of Nigeria and the international community to mitigate the conflict through nonmilitary assistance, and to support Nigerian people affected by the conflict,” he said‎.