The European Union decided, on Friday 24 January, to mobilise €26.5 million in humanitarian aid to help the millions of people affected by the conflict in Nigeria’s Lake Chad region. Currently visiting the country, the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, announced this from the north-east of Nigeria, a region where violence by armed groups escalated in 2019.
The EU aid, channelled through the Commission's humanitarian partner organisations on the ground, will finance the provision of food aid, access to clean water, sanitation, primary health services and, for children, access to education.
“What matters most is that humanitarian organisations can reach all the people in need without restrictions, including in areas under the influence of non-state armed groups,” said the Commissioner.
In one decade, the armed insurgency in the north-east of the country has displaced two million people. In this region, 7.7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance and three million are suffering from food shortages. Child malnutrition is increasing and 1.2 million people are without assistance in hard-to-reach areas. Since 2014, the EU has provided €830 million in humanitarian aid to Nigeria, making it one of the largest donors. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)