The Federal Government of Nigeria and Chad will be getting over $128million in aid as the US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson embarks on his 5-nation Africa tour today, March 7, 2018.
The over $128million in aid for Nigeria and Lake Chad region is part of the $533 million in humanitarian assistance from the United States of America for Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia, and South Sudan, as well as countries in the Lake Chad region.
Tillerson announced the $533million aid for the African countries while speaking at George Mason University in Virginia shortly before departing the US for Africa.
Tillerson said: “Today I’m announcing $533 million in additional humanitarian assistance to fight famine and food insecurity and address other needs resulting from conflicts in Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Lake Chad Basin.
“The alarming levels of hunger in these areas are largely man-made, as conflicts erupt and people flee their homes.
“Under these conditions, people cannot produce crops and often lose access altogether to food, education, and health care. Many lose everything.
“And regrettably, Mother Nature can still be cruel, such as in the Horn of Africa, where a prolonged drought is contributing to grave food insecurit y”.
Tillerson, who said the themes of his trip includes counter terrorism, democracy, governance, trade and investment, will be visiting Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria.
In furtherance, about $184 million is for affected populations from South Sudan and more than $110 million for affected populations from Ethiopia.
The humanitarian assistance also includes more than $110 million for affected populations from Somalia.
According to Tillerson, these additional funds will provide emergency food, nutrition assistance, and other aid.
This includes safe drinking water, thousands of tons of food, and delivery of health programs to prevent the spread of deadly diseases like cholera to millions of people adding that this will save lives.
Tillerson also called upon others to join the US in meeting the growing humanitarian needs in Africa while hoping that the initial contributions will encourage others to contribute aid to increase burden sharing and meet the growing humanitarian needs in Africa.
On Tuesday, March 6, 2018, the King of Saudi Arabia sent a $10million aid to assist the IDPs of the North East region in Nigeria, who have been sacked from their communities by Boko Haram insurgents.
The donation was made by Saudi Arabia’s King » as part of his aid and relief programme and was presented to the Nigerian defence minister, Retired Brigadier General Mansur Dan by his Saudi Arabia counterpart, Nasir Mutbak,
