*Budgets 6.9 Euros in 2023 for food, malnutrition, health , agric
By; SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri
French Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs. Emmanuelle Blatmann has disclosed that France Government last year, supported Nigeria with 7.7 million Euros for humanitarian support to address food, health, security and agricultural activities among others.
She also said that the Government of France has this year, 2023 budgeted 6.9 million Euros to tackle food, malnutrition and health as well as other conflict or insecurity issues in the North East.
France Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann disclosed this in Maiduguri, while briefing journalists after inspecting WFP interventions facilities located at Muna IDPs Camp Clinic at Mum’s Garage IDPs Camp along Mafa) Dikwa Road Maiduguri.
The French Envoy also noted that her visit to Borno State was to assess the impact of French government intervention projects and programmes or facilities executed or implemented or ongoing through one of its agencies /NGOs, the World Food Programme (WFP) interventions on acute and middle malnutrition among IDP children and mothers from six LGAs of Borno State, namely, Mafa, Bama, Dikwa, Konduga, Ngala and Gwoza.
Mrs. Blatmann after her
interaction with some mothers of malnourished children at the Muna IDP Camp Clinic WFP facility when the French Envoy was conducted round the facility by officer in charge, Palmata Usman Sandabe, said there is the need for additional support to tackle multiple drivers of the conflict or insurgency such as hunger, food insecurity, health, sanitation, agriculture and climate change.
She assured that the French government will continue to support and invest in Nigeria, especially, in the North East region to bring peace, stability to save lives and bring changes to better the lives of the vulnerable people .
Ambassador Blatmann also revealed that her country has so far, intervened in 28 different projects worth 21 million Euros to address humanitarian needs, food security and health issues among about one million people in the last three years within the North East.
She however, said that following the proliferation of the lingering crisis in Ukraine, French government through the World Food Programme (WFP) and other partners, has set up an initiative to mitigate the impact of the crisis with regards to access to food among vulnerable and displaced people in African countries, particularly, Borno State.
“In 2022, France spent €500m on humanitarian aid across the world, out of which €150m was used to tackle food shortages across countries suffering the problem.
“The €3m was part of a total of €6.9m that France had so far budgeted for humanitarian aid in Nigeria, having spent €7.7m for such aid in 2022.
“We have so far budgeted €6.9m for humanitarian aid in Nigeria in 2023, and out of this, €3m is given to WFP to address food shortage and malnutrition among children in the North East.
“This amount is subject to upward review, depending on the circumstances concerning food insufficiency and malnutrition in the country. France, over the last three years, in conjunction with humanitarian aid development organisations, executed 28 humanitarian aid projects in Nigeria’s North-East with €21m.
“We often hear about donor fatigue and humanitarian assistance is going down, so I am here to prove that for France is the opposite. We are moving ahead, we are increasing our assistance in collaboration with government, UN agencies, we are here to help and show our solidarity, ” Blatmann said.
Speaking also during the ambassador’s visit to Maiduguri, the Country Director of World Food Programme (WFP) Representative to Nigeria, Mr. David Stevenson said the organisation is to support 2.1 million people under the humanitarian response plans with support from the French government.
He added that the interventions or response plans targets children and mothers that are malnourished through provision of agricultural inputs food supplements for mothers of malnourished children and also build capacity of nursing mothers to learn nutrition techniques among others.
Stevenson said the WFP targets over two million people in the subregion, 1.4 million of them in Borno State alone, in its humanitarian aid programmes, in its efforts at tackling the problem.
He however, assured of WFP and French government commitment to tackle food insecurity among the reported 4.4 million people in Nigeria’s North-East, which risk food shortages in 2023, while expressing commitment of WFP to meet the needs of victims of conflict in the North East.
