Red Cross appeals for N12.9bn for 1.5m displaced by Boko Haram

The region spans Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad-four countries affected by Boko Haram insurgency and counter attacks-where more than 1.5 million people, mostly within Nigeria, have been displaced.At least $45 million of the expected donation will be used for Nigeria, said ICRC president Peter Maurer at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.The total donation […]

The region spans Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad-four countries affected by Boko Haram insurgency and counter attacks-where more than 1.5 million people, mostly within Nigeria, have been displaced.
At least $45 million of the expected donation will be used for Nigeria, said ICRC president Peter Maurer at a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.
The total donation will help ICRC provide food for 500,000 more people, assist more lost family members to find relatives, equip 12 primary health centres in northern Nigeria and provide surgical teams to support regional hospitals in Maiduguri and Diffa, Niger.
Maurer, after visiting conflict-affected regions of the North East for the first time in Nigeria, said graphic accounts of disrupted lives from the region showed it to be the worst humanitarian crisis in Africa.
“Whole communities have fled their villages and endured unimaginable suffering. Traumatised people without homes, belongings, income and education for their children -what does the future hold for them?” said Maurer.
“They need support far beyond what the ICRC can provide, yet in many hard-hit places we find ourselves alone. This is a big problem that is not going anywhere, and it demands serious attention.”
The scale of insurgency-related displacements in the Lake Chad region is the world’s third biggest after Syria and Sudan, according to the ICRC.
New donations are expected to bring its spending in the region to $110 million, compared with its $115m budget for Sudan and $160m for Syria.
The ICRC is to meet with international donors in Brussels next week, after a possible meeting on Thursday with Nigerien president Mahamadou Issoufou in Abuja.
Its appeals for double funding to take care of people displaced by Boko Haram insurgency across the region, as it faces competing demands from other crisis areas around the globe, including around 10 million displaced in the Middle East.
“It is important to invest in stabilizing the lives and livelihoods of more than 1.5 million displaced in this region, if we do not want to see more serious consequences as we move forward,” Maurer told Daily Trust.