UK pledges extra £47m aid to families hit by hunger, £7m to Nigeria

The United Kingdom (UK) has pledged an extra £47 million aid to provide food, nutrition, water, and shelter for nine countries and regions including Nigeria, a statement by Gill Atkinson, acting High Commissioner of the British High Commission said.

A breakdown of the provision showed that £7 million (N3.7 billion) of the funding would be made available to Nigeria through the World Food Programme which is estimated to reach 430,000 Nigerians with unconditional food assistance and support for 108 days.

The aid is in addition to the £14 million provided for Yemen earlier in December and the £8 million provided for Nigeria in September 2020.

Atkinson said the aid was a demonstration of how dedicated the UK was to helping provide continued support to people in need.

“I’m pleased that the UK is making this additional commitment of a further £7m in humanitarian aid in Nigeria.

“It is imperative we prevent a further deterioration of food insecurity in northeast Nigeria and vital we work in partnership with the Nigerian government to mitigate further decline in the situation.

“We encourage other donors to do likewise and thanks as ever go to our United Nations and NGO partners who deliver life-saving UKAID on behalf of the well-wishes of the British people,” Atkinson said.

In September, at the launch of the new Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab announced an international Call to Action to tackle food insecurity.

Raab said hundreds of millions of people who lived in the world’s largest humanitarian crises were struggling to survive, threatened by conflict, starvation and the coronavirus.

He said extra emergency UK aid will mean people can feed their families and prevent crises from escalating into widespread famine.

“We hope to see other donors step up to the plate with some extra funding to prevent these global crises getting worse,” he said.