Damilola Oyedele in Abuja
Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, on Tuesday night arrived Oslo, Norway, where he is expected to speak as the United Nations and Government of Norway, Germany and Nigeria jointly host a two-day donor conference on the humanitarian crisis arising from the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-east and other communities within the Lake Chad Region.
Shettima left Abuja on Tuesday morning and was received at night in Oslo by Norwegian officials coordinating protocol, according to the governor’s spokesman, Malam Isa Gusau, who accompanied him on the trip.
Tagged: ‘Oslo conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad’, the conference is scheduled to hold today and tomorrow with donors from different countries expected to make financial commitments needed by humanitarian agencies to increase aid and rebuilding of livelihoods for victims of attacks in Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroun.
UN envoys, humanitarian workers from the USAID, European Union and other parts of the world and foreign ministers of the three host countries are expected to grace the event. Nigeria’s Foreign Minister, Godfrey Onyema is leading federal government delegation while Shettima was invited given that Borno State is worst affected by insurgent attacks.
The governor is scheduled to address some participants tomorrow before joining a panel to discuss ‘Response and Recovery towards Durable Solutions.’
The Borno State governor is speaking alongside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Mr. Filippo Grandi; the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Mr. Edward Kallon; Mr. Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council with Mr. Bill Swing of the UN International Committee on Migration expected to moderate the panel.
The panelists are expected to “focus on the role of international partners in supporting returns, modalities of forging closer links between emergency response and long-term recovery, ensuring greater involvement of national and local authorities in assisting families restart their lives and that the particular needs of women and girls are addressed.”
According to concept note on the conference, In Nigeria alone, 26 million people live in areas affected by Boko Haram attacks with 10.7 million people in need of life-saving assistance in the most affected areas in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
“The Boko Haram insurgency and its spill over into neighbouring Cameroun, Chad and Niger have caused the displacement of over 2.3 million people in the region, of whom 1.77 million are internally displaced in Nigeria, while some 201,600 Nigerian refugees have sought asylum in Cameroun, Chad and Niger. The refugee-hosting countries also have sizeable IDP populations (Cameroun: 198,889; Chad: 103,876; and Niger: 121,391). Conflict continues to cause new and secondary displacement. Access to food and basic services is considerably limited and often result in negative coping mechanisms. Livelihoods, including from cross-border trade, continue to be severely constrained, and the social cohesion among communities has been badly damaged. The situation is further compounded by the fragile socio-economic context of the Sahel, which includes chronic poverty, harsh climatic conditions, poor infrastructure and limited access to basic services”.
The conference aims increasing international commitment to addressing humanitarian needs and rebuilding of livelihoods and to deepen cooperation on addressing the problems. A joint outcome is expected at the end of the conference tomorrow.
Meanwhile, as relief organisations increase response to the humanitarian emergency in the North-east, timely donor support amounting to a little over $1 billion is required to sustain life-saving assistance to millions people devastated by Boko Haram-linked violence, the United Nations relief aid wing has said.
“If the resources do not arrive in time, one in five children suffering sever acute malnutrition could die,” said Peter Lundberg, the Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria in a press release issued yesterday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“The likelihood of a child with severe acute malnutrition surviving is nine times less than a properly nourished child,” he added.
According to OCHA, the eight-year-long conflict has left some 8.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in the worst-affected states of Nigeria’s north-east. In the coming months, around 5.1 million people will face severe food insecurity in the region, where some 1.8 million people have been displaced and millions are exposed to violence and abuse.
“Food assistance alone will cost $1 million a day to avoid famine in a region where 450,000 children under five will suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year,” said Mr. Lundberg.
