The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has released an additional $5 million to scale up the flood response and address critical needs in Nigeria’s three most affected states, which include Borno and Bauchi in the North-East, and Sokoto in the North-West.
Mohamed Malick Fall, the United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, who announced this, said the intervention was to mitigate the increasing impact of floods on people’s lives, livelihoods, and food security across Nigeria at the peak of the rainy season. More than 300 people have lost their lives.
According to him, at least 1.2 million people are affected in 31 states, according to Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA). Thousands of hectares of cropland have been damaged ahead of harvests.
Read also: Six schools still flooded, not ready for students’ return — Borno
“Floods across Nigeria have created a crisis within a crisis. Millions of people were already facing critical levels of food insecurity before the floods because of economic hardships that have made it exceedingly difficult for the most vulnerable to feed themselves and their families. The floods have compounded people’s suffering”, he noted.
As of mid-September, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimated that crop losses due to floods in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states were equivalent to an amount of food that could feed 1.4 million people for six months. Nationwide crop losses could feed 8.5 million people for six months. To mitigate the flood impact, there is a need for extended lean season support and a scale-up of emergency agriculture activities, where possible.
The CERF funds will help humanitarian partners reach 280,000 people in Borno, Bauchi and Sokoto states with food, clean water, sanitation, and shelter support. The funds will also help to rapidly mobilise resources to bolster access to healthcare, including efforts to prevent the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera. The response will include the use of multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) and cash-for-work programmes to help affected people earn an income.
The funding will also enhance protection services, including support to women and girls and services for gender-based violence (GBV), as well as support to people living with disabilities.
“This CERF allocation is a much-needed boost to the joint efforts of humanitarian partners in Nigeria in support of the Government-led response. However, the CERF funds and the previous allocation from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF) are insufficient to meet the scale of needs. What is required right now is the immediate mobilisation of additional resources by donors, development partners and the private sector as the emergency response transitions to the recovery phase in some affected areas.”
Read also: Maiduguri floods: compassion, nationhood and national security
The CERF funds complement a $6 million allocation from the NHF for the BAY states, where more than half a million people have been affected by floods. In addition to the flood impact, the BAY states are experiencing cholera outbreaks that have claimed dozens of lives at the height of a food security and malnutrition crisis that is projected to affect five million people through October.
The NHF funds and resources from the US-funded Rapid Response Fund, managed by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), are supporting interventions in water and sanitation hygiene, shelter, and non-food items as well as MPCA in Borno.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
