HIGHLIGHTS
UN estimates that Boko Haram exploits children for 20 percent of bombing attacks
ASYG/RHC Lanzer advocates for additional assistance for the Lake Chad Basin
Ambassador Power announces more than $40 million in new USG assistance for the Lake Chad Basin response
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Assistant Secretary-General and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator (ASYG/RHC) for the Sahel Toby Lanzer is advocating for further humanitarian assistance to the Lake Chad Basin response, following an early April trip to the region—the ASYG/RHC’s third visit since August 2015. During the trip, ASYG/RHC Lanzer traveled to northeastern Nigeria as part of a multi-UN agency assessment that reinforced the need for continued emergency food assistance, host community support, and protection services. In recent weeks, USAID and State/PRM officials in Washington, D.C., and Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja have engaged closely with ASYG/RHC Lanzer on the evolving humanitarian response.
On April 19, Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Samantha Power announced more than $40 million in new U.S. Government (USG) funding to meet urgent needs in the Lake Chad Basin. The assistance includes more than $21.3 million from State/PRM and more than $18.8 million from USAID/FFP to support response efforts in Cameroon, Niger, and northeastern Nigeria. Together with recently committed funding, the announcement—made during Ambassador Power’s mid-April trip to Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria to highlight critical needs in the region—brings total FY 2015-2016 USG humanitarian assistance for the Lake Chad Basin crisis to nearly $244 million.
USAID/FFP recently provided $24.8 million to scale up emergency food assistance in northeastern Nigeria. The total includes $18.8 million announced by Ambassador Power, as well as $6 million in new funding to the UN World Food Program (WFP) to support mobile phone-based cash transfers to vulnerable households in the northeast.