The Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator of the United Nations, UN, for Nigeria, Peter Lundberg, on Friday said the humanitarian crisis in the North East is the largest in African.
Lundberg made the remark during a Press Conference organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affair, OCHA, in Abuja.
The press conference was aimed at launching OCHA’s Humanitarian Response Plan, HRP, for the North East region in 2017.
Lundberg also appealed to the international body to donate the sum of $1bn to meet the needs of 6.9m people facing humanitarian crises in the North East.
The Deputy Director disclosed that in 2016, Nigerian Armed Forces, “pushed back Boko Haram from territories it had formerly occupied, thereby making the scale of human sufferings to become more apparent to humanitarian community.”
Speaking further, he said, “We welcome the full cooperation of the Nigerian government and the initiative behind the Inter – Ministerial Task Force to address the humanitarian situation.
“This is the largest crisis on the African continent and I am confident that with the support of the international community and the private sector, we can begin to bring hope to the people of the north east.”
He noted that the Humanitarian Response Plan will address the need of 7m people in “dire need of nutrition, food, shelter, health, education, protection, water and sanitation needs of the very vulnerable.”
Lundberg projected that 5.1 million people in the north east will face serious food shortage due to the conflict and the risk associated with unexploded improvised devices which have prevented farmers from planting for a third year in a row, thereby causing imminent food crisis.
“The narrative on this humanitarian crisis can no longer be ignored and we are appealing to the international communities to help us prevent deaths of thousands of innocent civilians over the coming 12 months,” Lundberg added.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, expressed Federal Government’s resolve towards working with the International communities to eradicate the humanitarian crisis in the North Eastern part of the country.
“The Government has already demonstrated and will continue to demonstrate strong commitment to working together with the international humanitarian community,” she said.
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