Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende announced late last week that the country will be donating up to NOK 1.6 billion (USD 195 million) in emergency aid over the next three years to Nigeria and the area around Lake Chad. The announcement came after Norway had co-hosted a donor conference for an estimated 11 million people in acute need of help.
“It’s urgent to stop the crisis that’s playing out in an area with 26 million people and that threatens the entire region,” Brende said. “If we don’t do something now, the situation will become much worse.”
The aid will be distributed through 2019 to the area plagued by the terrorist group Boko Haram and by poverty, a lack of community development and climate change. The donor conference organized by Norway, Germany, Nigeria and the UN and held in Oslo is spurring aid from Norway this year alone of NOK 729 million to northeastern Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad. The money will be channeled through the UN, the International Organization for Migration, the International Red Cross and Norwegian humanitarian organizations.
newsinenglish.no staff
