France has donated €6.9 million (about N3.2 billion) to fight malnutrition and food insecurity in the North East geopolitical zone of Nigeria.
Unveiling the intervention, yesterday, in Maiduguri at Muna Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp clinic, French Ambassador to Nigeria, Emmanuelle Blatmann, disclosed: “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.”
She noted that France financed 28 projects worth €21 million to address humanitarian needs, food security and healthcare in the zone.
“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”.
According to the envoy, following the escalation of the crisis in Ukraine, France, WFP and other partners set up an initiative to mitigate the impact of the war with regards to 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.”
Announcing that France, in the first half of 2023, front-loaded €3 million to WFP, to address cases of hunger and malnutrition in the region, she said the organisation would support 2.1 million people under the Humanitarian Response Plan.
Blatmann explained that the plan is to provide food supplements to children and mothers of malnourished children, as well as teach nursing mothers nutrition techniques.
She expressed the commitment of WFP to meet the needs of victims of conflict in the North East.
