The U.S. Agency for International Development announced in mid-March that it will provide nearly 104 million dollars in humanitarian assistance to help alleviate the ongoing crisis in north eastern Nigeria. This brings total U.S. humanitarian aid to Nigeria in Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021 to more than 505 million dollars.
The United States is committed to helping the people affected by this conflict and will continue to provide vital support to the people of Nigeria. The United States also welcomes the support of its allies and other donors to help provide life-saving assistance to vulnerable Nigerians, and the communities that host them.
For nearly a decade now, the Nigerian states of Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe have suffered frequent and repeated attacks by the Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa terrorist groups. This is a mostly rural area, where people make their living from tending the land. The frequent violence has disrupted farming, resulting in wide-spread food insecurity since 2013. Nearly 2.3 million people have been displaced by the violence and hunger. Although some have taken shelter in neighboring countries, most of the displaced live in camps and host communities within north-eastern Nigeria.
Today, the UN anticipates that 8.7 million people across Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states will require humanitarian assistance in 2021, with 6.4 million in acute need of life-saving aid.
To complicate the situation, attacks by armed groups have hampered humanitarian access to affected regions, exacerbating the already dire situation. In February and March, terrorist groups conducted a number of attacks on government sites, camps sheltering the displaced and on humanitarian facilities, causing still more displacement and disrupting humanitarian aid operations.
Nonetheless, the United States and its partners continue to deliver critical assistance to northeastern Nigeria. The nearly 104 million dollars in humanitarian assistance announced in March will help provide basic necessities such as food and nutrition, as well as water, health supplies, and shelter. The funds will also go toward improving sanitation and hygiene, help provide protection for the most vulnerable and fund humanitarian coordination programs for communities in urgent need of aid.
The United States is committed to helping the people affected by this conflict and will continue to provide vital support to the people of Nigeria.
