With nearly 400,000 children facing starvation in Nigeria, and citizens
\nsuffering with little to no protection, security, food or access to clean
\nwater, \u201cNigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis on the African
\ncontinent,\u201d Peter Lundberg, the acting United Nations Deputy Humanitarian
\nCoordinator, warned today.<\/p>\n
In a news release issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of
\nHumanitarian Affairs (OCHA), wrapping up his first few weeks in the
\nposition, Mr. Lundberg assured the Nigerian Government of the
\ninternational community\u2019s commitment to working closely with federal and
\nstate mechanisms to accelerate a collective response to the situation.<\/p>\n
He also welcomed the recent announcement of the of the Inter-Ministerial
\nTask Force and High Level Humanitarian Coordination Group, and the Borno
\nstate Humanitarian Response Committee and looked forward to seeing
\n\u201ctangible impact in the coming weeks and months.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Mr. Lundberg, humanitarian assistance by the Government and
\nthe aid community is being provided to the millions of people in desperate
\nneed despite insecurity and access constraints. However, relief agencies
\nshould continue to maintain neutrality, impartiality and independence and
\ncontinue to work where security permits. \u201cNeeds are currently higher than
\nthe response capacity and we must ensure that we have both access and
\nresources to scale up our humanitarian support in the months to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite some very generous contributions from mechanisms such as the UN
\nCentral Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and donations from the wider donor
\ncommunity, the Nigerian Humanitarian Response Plan for 2016, which
\nrequires $484 million for life-saving interventions, has only received one
\nthird of the needed funding.
\n\u201cWithout the means to respond, innocent boys, girls, women and men will
\ndie. The highest priority requirement for this response remains food
\nsecurity which is just 25 per cent funded,\u201d warned Mr. Lundberg.<\/p>\n
He went on to note that the attacks on the humanitarian convoy on 28 July<\/span><\/span> At the end of his statement, Mr. Lundberg affirmed OCHA\u2019s commitment to With nearly 400,000 children facing starvation in Nigeria, and citizens suffering with little to no protection, security, food or access to clean water, \u201cNigeria is facing the worst humanitarian crisis…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nand recent suicide bombing in Maiduguri on 12 October serve as stark
\nreminders \u201cthat we must not let down our guard in such a high risk
\nenvironment.\u201d Indeed, the security of humanitarian actors remains a top
\npriority for the humanitarian community, he added.<\/p>\n
\nsupport and assist international organizations with the structures and
\nmechanisms they require to safely carry out their work. He also noted the
\nrecent improvements in displaced populations\u2019 assessment, calling this
\ndevelopment a \u201cspringboard\u2019 that will improve access to affected
\npopulations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"