Donors meeting in Oslo raised one third of the $1.5 billion needed for humanitarian assistance in the crisis-hit Lake Chad Basin region and the north east of Nigeria,according to the United Nations.
It came as UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator Stephen O’Brien launched the Nigerian Humanitarian Fund to support"life-saving operations" in the north east.
He called the donation "genuine success for 2017."
Other donors are expected to pitch in as their budgetary cycles allow.
"This fund will enable donors to pool their contributions to deliver a more effective,collective and immediate response and I have encouraged all donors to support this initiative," O’Brien said to the press in Oslo.
"What lies behind this is that catastrophes such as a famine can be averted now if we step up in a timely, sufficiently advanced manner."
Up to 10.7 million people–twice the population of Norway–are in need of assistance in the Lake Chad Region.
An estimated 8.5 million of them are in north-eastern Nigeria around the epicenter of Maiduguri, O’Brien said.
"If we don’t step up, they will all face a life of hunger, even famine in some areas of north-east Nigeria, as announced on Tuesday at the United Nations."
"Children will face a bleak future of illiteracy, malnutrition, risk of forced recruitment into armed groups and premature death," he warned.
"As the international community is stepping up, and is supporting a scale-up,supporting the governments of the region, we can stop and reverse a further descent into an ever-deepening crisis with unimaginable consequences for millions of people and an entire generation of children and youth."
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
