We have not received USAID $1m donation for flood victims – NEMA DG

The Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Engr. Habib Mustapha Ahmed has said that the agency has not received a $1million donation from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support Nigerian flood victims in 2022. 

The US embassy, through the US. Ambassador, Mary Beth Leonard announced the donation since October 2022.

When journalists enquired about the fund on Friday in Abuja in a press briefing, the NEMA boss said it has been over 10 months since the announcement was made yet the agency has yet to get the donation.

The US had explained that the unusually heavy rainfall, which resulted in flooding, had affected nearly 2.8 million people nationwide. 

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The statement by the US added that many homes had been damaged or completely destroyed while displacing millions of persons, therefore, it stressed that the $1 million in the new USAID support would allow local partners on the ground to provide emergency shelter assistance, relief commodities, and hygiene kits to promote safe and healthy practices amid the on-going cholera outbreak and multipurpose cash assistance for people affected by the devastating floods.

“The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing $1 million in immediate humanitarian assistance to support the people affected by unprecedented flooding in Nigeria,” the statement disclosed.

But Ahmed said, “I also read about the story in the papers last year but I can confirm that we have not received any $1million from USAID.”

Meanwhile, the Governor of Zamfara State, Dr. Dauda Lawal who visited the agency’s headquarters on Friday sought for humanitarian assistance to take care of victims of banditry in the state.

He decried that the state was faced with a lot of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) due to issues of banditry.

On his part, NEMA DG, Ahmed assured the governor of the Agency’s readiness to assist in addressing the humanitarian problems caused by bandits and terrorist attacks.

He said, “First I commend the governor to appreciate NEMA for the interventions and I assure you that Zamfara will get all the assistance they need just like other states of the federation.”