Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr Stephen O’Brien, will visit Nigeria and Niger to take stock of the humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad Basin.
A statement from the Office of the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, at the UN said that O’Brien is scheduled to travel to Niger from May 16 to May 17 and then to Nigeria from May 18 to May 19.
O’Brien is expected to visit Diffa and Maiduguri, to meet with displaced people, their host communities, local officials and humanitarian actors.
The statement said that the crisis in the Lake Chad Basin, including Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad, had continuously deteriorated over the last two years.
Insecurity, violence by Boko Haram and counter-insurgency measure, it added, have uprooted over 2.4 million people, making it the fastest growing displacement crisis in Africa.
OCHA added that communities in the Lake Chad Basin already struggle with the effects of climate change, environmental degradation, chronic food insecurity and malnutrition.
The conflict, it said, had dramatically exacerbated their vulnerability.
In the worst-affected areas, it said, almost half the population, about 9.2 million people, needed assistance with no fewer than three million of them affected by food insecurity.
The visit precedes the first World Humanitarian Summit, which will take place in Istanbul, Turkey, from May 23 to May 24.
The summit seeks to generate renewed focus on essential humanitarian commitments, highly relevant to the people of the region, including the need to ‘leave no one behind’ and to ‘prevent and end conflicts.’
The post As UN set to take stock of humanitarian crisis in Lake Chad Basin appeared first on Nigerian News on the go from Nigerian Pilot Newspaper.
Source:: Nigerian Pilot
