Emmanuel Thomas l Tuesday, May 09, 2017
WASHINGTON, United States – The United States today said that it has provided close to $500 million, about N180 billion in the last two years to victims of Boko Haram in North-east Nigeria.
This is besides additional $30 million released just 28 April through the World Food Programme.
Deputy Director, Office of West African Affairs, Bureau of African Affairs, Mr. Nathan Holt who made the revelation in a teleconference.
The United States has worked closely with Nigeria, providing a range of service including intelligence sharing.
“ We provide a range of assistance to Nigerian authorities in their efforts to combat Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa. That includes intelligence sharing, training, advice on strategic communications, and various services to support victims of Boko Haram. And as I said, we’ve provided close to $500 million in humanitarian assistance over the last two years to those affected by the conflict in northeastern Nigeria and its neighbors – neighboring countries of Cameroon, Niger, and Chad”, Holt said.
He said the United States has worked together with United Nations on issues of arms proliferation, nuclear questions.
According to him, one of the critical consequences of the Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa insurgency, which has been going on since 2009, is that it has produced terrible consequences for the population and that the U.S has come to understand more clearly the true dimensions of the humanitarian crisis.
“We’re working as hard as we can and as fast as we can to deliver food assistance and other support to those people. I’ve quoted the numbers on our own humanitarian assistance a couple of time. I think I would add that just on April 28th the United States announced an additional $30 million to support the people of northeast Nigeria through contributions to the World Food Program.
“The World Food Program, I would add, has expanded the numbers of people it is feeding by tenfold over the last two to three months. So the numbers have gone from roughly 200,000 to close to 2 million. The World Food Program needs additional assistance; we’re working with other donors and partners to get that assistance to them. It’s a collective effort, and none of it’s going to get fixed until the insurgency is defeated and the specter of terrorist violence is eliminated from that area”, Holt said.
