Jutha Gupah, Maiduguri
The Secretary General for Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Jan Egeland has said that 11 International Organisations require $1.6 billion (N5.76 billion) for this year’s urgent humanitarian assistance in Lake Chad region. NRC’s appeal was necessitated with nine-year conflict in the Lake Chad Basin, which has dramatically affected the lives of 11 million people. In a statement released Friday in Maiduguri; by council’s Media and Public Advocacy team leader, Tiril Skarskin, Egeland said that the victims of conflict rely on humanitarian assistance to survive in Boko Haram insurgency affected basin. “The insurgency; as well as military operations across the four countries has displaced 2.4 million people and left five million people food insecure, while significantly reducing economic activity,” said Egeland in the statement. Continuing, he added: “The conflict has taken a heavy toll on the local economies and people´s livelihoods, and has also led to a high number of civilian casualties and grave abuses, such as the recruitment of children by armed groups sexual violence and abductions.” According to him, the current security situation further impedes the humanitarian actors’ access to people in need of life-saving support. He said over 800,000 people still live in hard to reach areas with no access to humanitarian assistance, while military operations in Lake Chad Islands prohibits organizations from providing assistance to victims of conflict. On lifesaving and protection in region, he said: “This year’s conference in Germany must not only continue this lifesaving operation, but must make protection of vulnerable children, women and men a top priority. “Conflict-affected families depend on the international community to put the lives of civilians over and beyond competing political agendas, such as their war on terror.” He warned that humanitarian needs remain massive last year and will continue in 2018 and beyond. He lamented that eight months into the year, only 26 percent of the appeal for funding to Cameroon has been raised and the humanitarian appeal to support people affected by the crisis in Nigeria is less than 50% funded. According to him, United Nations estimated $1.6 billion requirement for this year’s help to 10.7 million in need of humanitarian assistance. “The crisis in Northeast Nigeria is far from being resolved,” he further warned. He said already, thousands of desperate people continue to arrive into congested areas on a weekly basis either from ‘inaccessible’ areas or across borders, stating that some are in state of severe malnutrition. “It is crucial that we maintain the necessary assistance to continue saving lives, particularly in remote field locations across Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states” said the Director of Nigeria INGO Forum, Jennifer Jalovec. Continuing, Hannah Gibbin, the Country Director for International Rescue Committee in Cameroon, also said: “As the protection crisis in Lake Chad region rages on for another year, children make up over half of those displaced. “Women and girls face gender-based violence daily, are abducted, sexually exploited and abused, and struggling to survive early and forced marriage and intimate partner violence.” She reiterated the need for participants at the conference to face the facts head-on and join forces to provide lives of dignity and security. The Plan International’s Country Director in Nigeria, Hussaini Abdu, also said: “All humanitarian actors, including donors, to urgently accord priority, funding and coordination of efforts to prevent and respond to ongoing Gender-Based Violence and Child Protection needs. “This is to fulfil adolescent girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights,” he declared. According to him, next week’s conference in Berlin constitutes another opportunity to shed light on a crisis that not only requires financial attention, but first and foremost, a political will from governmental actors at all levels. He said the conference, was to address the root causes of this conflict and ensure the lives and livelihoods of millions of women, men and children living in the Lake Chad Basin are protected.
