$1.6m Needed for Humanitarian Services in Lake Chad Basin, Says NRC

NGO wants human rights violations in region probed

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has said $1.6 billion (about N5.8 billion) is required for this year’s urgent humanitarian assistance in the Lake Chad region.

A call has gone for the inquiry into human rights violations in the ongoing counter-insurgency war in the North-east.

This is as a non-governmental organisation CLEEN Foundation has advocated for inquiry into human rights violations in the ongoing counter-insurgency operations in the North-east.

Secretary General of NRC, Jan Egeland, was quoted as having said this on Friday. He said 11 International Organisations required $1.6 billion (N5.76 billion) for this year’s urgent humanitarian assistance in Lake Chad region.

He said the assistance became necessary as the nine-year conflict in the Lake Chad Basin, had dramatically affected the lives of 11 million people.

The NRC in a statement released in Maiduguri by council’s media and public advocacy, Tiril Skarskin, said Egeland revealed that the victims of conflict relied on humanitarian assistance to survive in Boko Haram insurgency affected basin.

“The insurgency; as well as military operations across the four countries has displaced 2.4 million people and left five million people food insecure, while significantly reducing economic activity,” said Egeland in the statement.

He added that: “The conflict has taken a heavy toll on the local economies and people´s livelihoods, and has also led to a high number of civilian casualties and grave abuses, such as the recruitment of children by armed groups sexual violence and abductions.”

He said, the current security situation further impedes the humanitarian actors’ access to people in need of life-saving support, with over 800,000 people still live in hard-to-reach areas with no access to humanitarian assistance, while military operations in Lake Chad Islands prohibit organisations from providing assistance to victims of conflict.

On lifesaving and protection in region, Egeland said: “This year’s conference must not only continue this lifesaving operation, but must make protection of vulnerable children, women and men a top priority.

“Conflict-affected families depend on the international community to put the lives of civilians over and beyond competing political agendas, such as their war on terror.”

He warned that humanitarian needs remained massive last year and would continue in 2018 and beyond, and lamented that eight months into the year, only 26 per cent of the appeal for funding to Cameroon had been raised and the humanitarian appeal to support people affected by the crisis in Nigeria was less than 50 per cent funded.

According to him, United Nations estimated $1.6 billion requirement for this year’s help to 10.7 million in need of humanitarian assistance.

“The crisis in North-east Nigeria is far from being resolved,” he further warned.