The United Kingdom (UK) has donated £15 million for the provision of vital food for vulnerable people in the North-Eastern states of Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe.

The UK High Commission in Nigeria, which announced this in a statement, said the amount was emergency humanitarian funding.

According to the commission, the money will be used to mobilise the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Food Programme (WFP) to enable them to deliver life-saving schemes in response to the crises in the North-East.

According to the statement, this food assistance funding is part of the UK’s wider commitment to prioritise life-saving humanitarian aid to communities around the world who are most vulnerable due to the ongoing combination of crises.

Acting British High Commissioner to Nigeria Gill Atkinson said, “As the conflict continues, 4.1 million people are facing a food crisis in North-East Nigeria.

“Through this emergency funding, the UK has allocated £15 million of humanitarian assistance to tackle food insecurity and malnutrition among the region’s most vulnerable people, including women and children.”

The statement further noted that “the UK is proud to be supporting the work of our delivery partners – the World Food Programme and UNICEF – whose aid workers put themselves at great risk in order to reach those suffering most.”

The UK has also announced further humanitarian funding to several West African countries in the Sahel region, including Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger.

“When combined with the £15 million funding allocated to North-East Nigeria, this humanitarian funding totals £37.65 million,” the statement read.

Also contained in the statement, UK’s Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford, stated that “Millions of people across the Sahel and West Africa are unimaginably suffering with hunger and malnutrition.

“That’s why the UK will step up with an urgent £38 million of humanitarian funding, reaching those most vulnerable and saving lives across the region.”

(NAN)