Connect with us

News

Northeast Crisis: US1.3 billion needed as humanitarian assistance for 6 million people – UN

Published

on

Northeast Crisis: US1.3 billion needed as humanitarian assistance for 6 million people – UN

By: Our Reporter

The United Nations has said US$1.3 billion is needed this year to provide critical lifesaving assistance to 6 million people suffering from the devastating impact of the 13 year armed conflict in the Northeast.

It disclosed that this is an increase of 500,000 people from the 5.5 million people identified for assistance in 2022.

A statement on Thursday by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said “the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for north-east Nigeria launched today requests US$1.3 billion to provide critical lifesaving assistance to 6 million people suffering from the devastating impact of the continuing 13 year long non-international armed conflict. This is an increase of 500,000 people from the 5.5 million people identified for assistance in 2022.”

The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Mr. Matthias Schmale, was quoted in the statement to have said: “The large-scale humanitarian and protection crisis shows no sign of abating,” revealing that: “An estimated 2.4 million people are in acute need – impacted by conflict, disaster and disease – and require urgent support.”

He lamented that some humanitarian needs of affected people are deepening and increasing, particularly those related to food insecurity and malnutrition, adding that approximately 4.4 million people are expected to face food insecurity in the 2023 lean season, up from 4.1 million in 2022, while insisting that without urgent action, 4,000 people in Bama, Borno State, are expected to be in ‘catastrophe’ (Phase 5) conditions, in which starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels become prevalent.

According to the statement, the ticking time bomb of child malnutrition is escalating in Nigeria’s north-east, with the number of children suffering from acute malnutrition projected to increase to 2 million in 2023, up from 1.74 million in last year. The already high levels of severe acute malnutrition are projected to more than double, from 300,000 children affected last year to a projected 697,000 this year.

Schmale said: “Women and girls are the hardest hit,” stressing that: “Over 80 per cent of people in need of humanitarian assistance across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states are women and children. They face increased risks of violence, abduction, rape and abuse.”

He noted that during conflict, children, girls, women and people with disabilities are the most affected groups of people. They require additional attention through enhanced access to protection and quality of basic health, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene and learning services.

The statement said two million people are displaced due to conflict and face daily threats to their health and safety. Sudden and unpredictable attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure by non-state armed groups are continuing, and the recent closure of camps for internally displaced people are leading to new vulnerabilities. There are nearly two million returnees who lack essential services and livelihoods, and 4.8 million people in host communities or communities affected by the conflict.

Over a million people are estimated to be in extremely hard-to-reach areas where they are unable to get to basic services or receive assistance and humanitarian actors are unable to reach them.

The statement added that through the Humanitarian Response Plan, 120 operational partners will work in support of Government efforts to save lives, improve the quality of life, protect the most vulnerable and enable affected people to return to normalcy and live safely and with dignity. The plan, which is part of a two-year strategy for 2022-2023, prioritizes lifesaving needs while also working to reduce vulnerabilities through efforts to build resilience and enhance self-reliance.

In 2023, humanitarian partners will continue to monitor and respond to the significant humanitarian needs in other parts of Nigeria and strengthen complementarity in resource mobilisation, and linkages with ongoing prevention and development efforts, as demonstrated in 2022 in the response to the country’s worst floods in 10 years as well as the severe malnutrition crisis in the north-west.

Despite facing severe access and funding constraints, the humanitarian community reached 4.7 million people with assistance in 2022 through the generous support of donors. With the Humanitarian Response Plan, they have outlined a vision to assist 6 million people. Of the $1.3 billion required, $631 million will be urgently needed for an emergency response to the 2.4 million people in acute need.

Northeast Crisis: US1.3 billion needed as humanitarian assistance for 6 million people – UN

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Military

Troops neutralise four ISWAP logistics suppliers in multiple ambushes in Borno

Published

on

Troops neutralise four ISWAP logistics suppliers in multiple ambushes in Borno

By: Zagazola Makama

Troops of Operation Hadin Kai have neutralised four Boko Haram/ISWAP logistics suppliers in a series of coordinated ambush operations conducted across multiple locations in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno State.

Sources revealed on Monday, that the ambushes were part of Operation Desert Sanity IV/Diligent Search.

The sources said that the troops carried out three separate ambushes on October 25, 2025, at different terrorist crossing points around Kukauku, Delta Company Kawuri, and Alou Dam, all within Konduga axis.

“At about 11:35 a.m., troops of 222 Battalion conducted an ambush at Kuka Uku crossing point in Delta Company Kawuri, where one terrorist logistics supplier was neutralised,” the report stated.

It added that another ambush team positioned ahead of Charlie Company in Konduga LGA successfully neutralised one more terrorist logistics supplier.

“In a separate operation, an ambush team lying in wait at a crossing point in Alpha Company, Alou Dam, neutralised two additional terrorist logistics suppliers,” the sources said.

The operations were conducted without any casualties on the part of the troops, while the four neutralised suspects were confirmed to be affiliated with Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad (JAS) and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).

The sources added that the general security situation in the area remained calm but unpredictable, with troops maintaining high morale and combat readiness.

The sources further noted that the coordinated ambushes were part of ongoing clearance and interdiction operations aimed at cutting off terrorists’ supply routes and denying them freedom of movement within the North-East theatre.

Troops neutralise four ISWAP logistics suppliers in multiple ambushes in Borno

Continue Reading

News

Why We Expanded Presidential Amnesty Scholarship Scheme- Otuaro

Published

on

Why We Expanded Presidential Amnesty Scholarship Scheme- Otuaro

By: Michael Mike

The Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Dr Dennis Otuaro has expressed his unwavering commitment to ensuring that more indigent students and communities of the Niger Delta benefit from the PAP scholarship scheme.

He stated this while explaining what informed his decision to expand the scheme and increase formal education opportunities for poor students, and to build a huge manpower base in the region.

Otuaro spoke during an interactive session in London on Saturday with the beneficiaries of the scholarship initiative deployed for undergraduate and post-graduate programmes in universities across the United Kingdom.

The engagement, which was at the instance of the PAP boss, provided an opportunity for the Office and the scholarship students to discuss issues pertaining to their welfare and challenges with a view to addressing them.

Otuaro said that while in-country scholarship deployment was 3800 in the 2024/2025 academic year, the figure increased to 3900 in the 2025/2026 and foreign scholarships were about 200.

He attributed the increase in deployment to the massive support of President Bola Tinubu and the Office of the National Security Adviser.

Otuaro stressed that he was greatly encouraged by the President and the NSA, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and that he knows how impressed both of them are concerning the PAP initiatives, which align with the Renewed Hope Agenda.

He reiterated his call on the students to justify the huge investment in their education by the Federal Government by studying hard to make good grades.

He also urged them to conduct themselves and be responsible ambassadors of Nigeria while in the U.K, stressing that “you will be adding value to your families and communities when you complete your programmes successfully.”

The PAP helmsman said, “We want the scholarship programme to impact more students and communities in the Niger Delta. That’s why we have expanded it and increased formal education opportunities.

“We want you to take this opportunity very seriously so that the government, too, will be encouraged. I know how much support His Excellency, President Bola Tinubu GCFR, gives to the Presidential Amnesty Programme.

“Mr President and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, are very impressed with what we are doing. On your behalf I would like to, once again , thank His Excellency and the NSA for giving you this life-changing opportunity. We are confident that Mr President and the NSA will continue to support us.

“The knowledge you are receiving in your institutions today is to enable you plan yourself and prepare for the future. Whatever knowledge you gain cannot be taken from you.

“So as PAP scholarship students, we expect responsible and good behaviour from you. Government is investing heavily in you and you have the obligation to justify the investment. Be agents of change and avoid acts of mischief while in the U.K.”

Why We Expanded Presidential Amnesty Scholarship Scheme- Otuaro

Continue Reading

News

Rumbles in the Borno health sector as workers continue their grumbling for better packages

Published

on

Rumbles in the Borno health sector as workers continue their grumbling for better packages

By: Bodunrin Kayode

For the second month running some health workers in the Borno State health sector have continued their grumbling over the discriminatory wages dished out to them by the government.

They are frustrated that in spite of their lingering protests, the lopsided salary payment continues among the Borno State Health team believed to be one of the best in the country.

They argued during a recent chat with this reporter that “nurses and junior doctors with lesser certificates and qualifications are being paid and rewarded higher than others just because they belong to trade unions that have perfected the act and practices of trade union melancholy, greediness and selfishness.”

The aggrieved workers who preferred to remain anonymous posited that the Borno health workforce are working at crossroads with suspicion, envy and hatred adding that there is total lack of trust and love among their ranks since such virtues are seemingly lost.

The professionals maintained that Pharmacists, Laboratory Scientists, Radiographers, Physiotherapists and other allied Specialists are obviously frustrated even as they work with deep grudges against the system showing so much apathy to them.

They wonder why nurses and junior doctors with lesser qualifications, experience or skills were better renumerated, given quarters to stay and enjoy other broader privileges while they are treated like trash.

“The leadership of the Health sector made up of three Professors of medicine for reasons best known to them continuously misadvice the highly rated executive Governor of Borno State and have succeeded in reducing the once agile and effective Borno State Health service to it’s lowest ebb.” One of them said.

Speaking further, they regretted that pregnant women despite the free maternal drug program set up for them by the government, they still suffer neglect and abuse by some care givers who are disgruntled.

They added that sadly, in spite of all the efforts of the government, “majority of citizens stay on endless queue waiting for several hours to access basic medical service especially in our secondary healthcare facilities.

“Laboratory orders and medical investigations are conducted by Ill motivated staff with disenchantment.

“Drugs are being prescribed indiscriminately to citizens without drug-drug or drug-food interaction screening and safety checks by certified Pharmacists because of the very few numbers of Graduate Pharmacist Staff in employment.

“His Excellency, the best achieving Governor in the History of Nigeria and also known worldwide should not allow His envious records of sub regional governance job perfection to be dented by bad and self seeking advisers and gluttonous union officials” The concluded.

Borno is suffering from a huge deficit of health workers but recently the Government has been doing all it can to lay the foundation for the correction of this lapse.

Rumbles in the Borno health sector as workers continue their grumbling for better packages

Continue Reading

Trending

Verified by MonsterInsights