France has donated over six million euros (€6.9 million) to the North-east geopolitical zone of Nigeria to curb malnutrition and food insecurity.
The about N3.2 billion donation was unveiled on Tuesday in Maiduguri at Muna Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp clinic by the French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann.
Blatmann said:
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“My visit to Borno State is to assess the French government’s intervention through the World Food Programme (WFP). The areas of intervention are severe acute malnutrition and food shortage.”
Additionally, she revealed that France funded 28 projects worth €21 million for humanitarian needs, food security, and healthcare in the zone.
The Ambassador said:
“Over one million people were reached in the last three years in the conflict-affected states of the region. France will continue to invest in the region to better the lives of the vulnerable persons.
“There is the need to tackle multiple drivers of conflict such as hunger, insecurity and climate change.”
She explained that initiative was to mitigate the impact of the war on access to food among vulnerable and other displaced persons in Borno.
She added:
“We often hear about donor fatigue, and humanitarian assistance is dropping. So, I am here to prove that, for France, it is the opposite. We are moving ahead, increasing our assistance in collaboration with government and United Nations (UN) agencies.”
The outreach programme by the organisation in the first half of 2023 would support 2.1 million people under the Humanitarian Response Plan.
According to Blatmann, the exercise would not only provide food supplements to children and mothers of malnourished children but would also teach nursing mothers nutrition techniques.
She stated that WFP would equally reach out to the needs of victims of conflict in the North East.
