The Federal Government paid $1 million in 2021 to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) as part of an ECOWAS humanitarian assistance for victims of violent conflicts in North West and North East Nigeria. The fund from ECOWAS was granted to the government of Nigeria from the ECOWAS Regional Stabilization Fund.
According to a joint news release from the World Food Programme(WFP), the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development and ECOWAS, the Government of Nigeria sought the collaboration of WFP in Nigeria to apply the fund for alleviating food and nutrition needs in Katsina, Zamfara and Borno states.
The programme targeted 840 food insecure households comprising 4,196 persons in Zamfara, Katsina and Borno states with food assistance through an average cash transfer of 27,000 in their prepaid bank cards or WFP SCOPE cards every month to buy their preferred food from local markets..
To prevent acute malnutrition in children in the first 1,000 days of their lives, the programme also provided nutrition assistance to 14,070 6-23 months old children and 1,932 pregnant/breastfeeding women in the three project states. In addition to providing life-saving food and nutrition assistance to vulnerable families, WFP is also using the ECOWAS donation to build the resilience of the households in the conflict-affected states of Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Katsina and will provide milling machines and training support to 603 returnees from Cameroon and displaced rural women to support them in generating some income to sustain their livelihoods.
In her remarks, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Farouq said “This project has provided the Ministry the unique opportunity of showcasing best practices of partnership and collaboration in delivering humanitarian intervention. It has equally advanced the efforts of the Nigerian Government in touching the lives of a critical mass of Nigerians in vulnerable situations.”
