European Commission Provides Vital Support To WFP Humanitarian Effort In Northeast Nigeria

Tags:
2018-01-08

In 2017, famine was averted in Northeast Nigeria. Through its civil protection and humanitarian arm, ECHO, the European Commission contributed significantly to this achievement by contributing a total of €19.3 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Of this sum, more than a third – €7.3 million – directly allowed the UN agency to save lives threatened by hunger.

“ECHO’s €7.3 million contribution came at a crucial time, during the mid-year lean season, when food stocks are low and fields have yet to produce crops,” said WFP Nigeria Representative and Country Director Myrta Kaulard. “Without the generous support of the European Commission and other partners, many people, in desperate need of food and nutrition, might not have survived.”

The contribution enabled WFP to purchase enough key staples – white beans, iodized salt, sorghum and millet – to feed over 500,000 people.

WFP and its partners distributed food in areas where the ongoing conflict has disrupted supplies, wrecked farming and put markets out of people’s reach. Where markets are functioning, WFP provides cash assistance, often in the form of e-money, which meets immediate needs and strengthens local economies. This combination of in-kind and cash assistance is complemented by nutritional support for pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under five.

Since the beginning of 2017, in close collaboration with the Nigerian Government and local and international partners, WFP has been reaching over 1.1 million people per month across the three States most affected by conflict – Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

Source:World Food Programme

  • 229 reads