The World Food Programme (WFP) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have provided multi-purpose cash and nutritious food worth $1 million to cushion the effect of food crisis and malnutrition challenges in North-western Nigeria
The current effort, according to the project partners, is part of the stabilisation fund put together to help address the food crisis in this region of Nigeria.
Speaking at the launch of the ECOWAS-FMHAPA-WFP stabilisation project phase 2 in Katsina in North-western Nigeria on Friday, the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to ECOWAS and Chairperson of the ECOWAS Permanent Representative Committee, Musa Nuhu, said that ECOWAS established the stabilisation fund to assist victims of terrorism, which was expanded to include those affected by banditry.
“So it was the ECOWAS Commission that came up with the idea of setting aside $1 million to be given to Nigeria every year so that it will come up with a programme to provide social alleviation initiatives for victims of insecurity in the North-East and North-West.
“The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation in Nigeria has the statutory responsibility to attend to the humanitarian needs of our citizens. That is why ECOWAS is always linked up with the humanitarian affairs ministry to come up with modalities for the implementation,” he said.
Earlier, the Deputy Head of Programme, WFP Abuja, Manuela Reinfeld, said that the WFP supported the fund with about $600,000.and that the money would cover associated costs to address malnutrition challenges, especially for pregnant lactating women and their children under age two.
Reinfeld stated that the fund is to support therapeutic supplementary feeding, such as soya-corn blend for the women, and that the WFP would support the vulnerable by providing unconditional food assistance with about 5,000 metric tonnes of wheat from Ukraine for Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara States.
“We are also trying to help them address the root causes of malnutrition. We are helping them with resilient building activities and we are targeting women.
“Here in the North-West, we will be distributing about 5,000 metric tonnes, out of which 2,000 will come to Katsina. This intervention from ECOWAS is a donation of $1 million out of which WFP has supplemented this with about $600,000 to cover associated costs,” she said.
According to her, the $1 million is directly going to the beneficiaries as they will be provided with wheat grains for the next three months.
Reinfeld disclosed that a similar programme will be extended to other local government areas of Nigeria towards the end of the year.
GIK/APA