Germany says it will provide 70 million US dollars to support humanitarian activities in countries of the Lake Chad Commission in 2017.
The German Ambassador to Nigeria, Bernhard Schlagheck, who said the funding was part of the 672 million US dollars pledged by donors at the Oslo Conference in February, explained that the humanitarian aid would be particularly channeled to Northeast Nigeria.
Schlagheck told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday that at least 6o million dollars would be for humanitarian aid in the area.
“We pledged roughly 70 million US dollars in Oslo which is part of the overall pledges made and that was in the magnitude of 670, 680 million US dollars.
“Germany will provide 70 million US dollars in 2017 as we did in 2016.
“We provided also in 2016, roughly, 70 million US dollars, particularly to the northeast, that was directed at all states of the Lake Chad region, but the bulk of it went to the northeast of Nigeria; I cannot specify it exactly but roughly 60 million US dollars.”
Countries in the Lake Chad Commission include Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon.
The envoy said that the German Government would work with “trusted and tested” international non-governmental organisations and the UN to disburse funds for various humanitarian works in the region.
He added that the government would also work “in close collaboration with the mechanism set up by the Nigerian Government at the state and federal levels”.
German Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel at the Oslo Humanitarian Conference for Nigeria and the Lake Chad region in February pledged 120 million euro (approximately 130.2 million dollars).
The pledge, according to Gabriel, is for humanitarian assistance and stabilisation measures in the Lake Chad region, to be spent over the next three years.
Of the 120 million euro pledged for the Lake Chad region, 20 million euro has been earmarked for promoting deradicalisation programmes, supporting reconciliation processes and strengthening local administrative structures.
In 2016, the German Government provided about 270 million euro (approximately 293million dollars) for aid projects in Africa.
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