James Entwistle, the Ambassador to Nigeria for United States of America, on Thursday, June 11, 2015 confirmed that a huge sum of $10.5m has been granted to Nigeria by the United States Agency for International Development in a bid to ensure humanitarian assistance for Internally Displace Persons in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria.
With this amount, $44m becomes the total amount the US has offered humanitarian assistance to the region since the start of the Boko Haram insurgency.
The grants signing ceremony was witnessed by Governors Kazeem Shettima of Borno State and Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe states at the US embassy, Abuja, the envoy stated that the facility would support the activities of the United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Children Fund and the World Health organization.
Ambassador Entwhistle revealed that he saw some of the immediate needs of victims of Boko Haram’s attacks when he visited Yola recently, including the shortage of food, lack of basic health care services and other socio-economic problems.
“With these agreements, USAID will provide $10.5m in additional humanitarian service to UNICEF, the WHO and UNPF. As a result of this funding, total amount of humanitarian assistance for North-Eastern Nigeria from the United States will reach almost $44m and the funding will supply nutritional supplements for malnourished children, healthcare services to those living in camps or with host communities, clean water and sanitation, hygiene supplies and protection services to affected population,” Entwhistle stated.
Governor Shettima appraised the US government for the kind gesture and praised Entwhistle for his personal interest and devotion to the situation raping the North-East, while assuring them that the crisis would soon come to and end.
Other rich countries were called upon by the Borno State Governor to assist the people of the areas affected by insurgency , noting that his administration had developed a robust platform for job creation, education and agriculture.
“Poverty was the cause of the crisis and it is a reality of everyday life in the North-East, but now, Boko Haram has further pauperised us, but I believe we will overcome it, my government has developed a robust platform for job creation, the education system and we have invested in systems to grow the agriculture sector,” Governor Shetima said.
