In order to address the problems of food Insecurity and displacement, the European Union (EU) has granted humanitarian partners in Nigeria an additional €5 million. With the announcement made on August 26, 2024, the annual amount of EU funds to West Africa would now total €35 million. The financing is intended to help areas that have been seriously damaged by political unrest, violence, and conflicts. These areas include Mauritania, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and the coastline nations of the Gulf of Guinea (GoG). The specific contributions are as follows: €10 million to Burkina Faso; €8 million to each of Mali and Niger; €1 million to Mauritania; €5 million to Nigeria; and €3 million to the nations surrounding the Gulf of Guinea.
The money is intended to support the most vulnerable communities by providing emergency food, nutrition, health care, water, sanitation, housing, and protection. The unstable Security situation in Nigeria’s Northeast and Northwest has resulted in continued displacement and a rise in malnutrition; the lean season of 2024 is predicted to be the worst in seven years. 7.9 million people in North-East Nigeria currently require humanitarian assistance, a 14% increase from 2023, with 4.8 million at danger of serious food shortages during the lean season.
257 humanitarian groups had been given $805 million by the UN Office.
With a total of €482 million donated since 2014, including €31.5 million in 2024, the EU has made a substantial contribution to humanitarian assistance in Nigeria. Furthermore, as of July 2024, 257 charitable groups had been given $805 million by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to help six million vulnerable people in Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, and Chad. A complicated combination of circumstances has been causing the current humanitarian catastrophe in West Africa, which includes Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Mauritania.
Ethnic and religious tensions, the effects of violence in surrounding countries, and violent confrontations spearheaded by extremist groups like Boko Haram and ISIS affiliates are some of these issues. State institutions have also been damaged by political unrest, bad leadership, and corruption, making it more difficult to maintain security and provide essential services. Aside from further uprooting people and escalating resource-based conflicts, Climate Change has also made food insecurity worse by decreasing agricultural output and water availability.
Humanitarian needs will rise if the causes of conflict are not addressed.
When comparing the EU’s funding to prior years, one can observe a consistent rise in assistance, which is indicative of the crisis’s expanding scope. As the humanitarian needs grew, the EU gave Nigeria alone €47.4 million in 2023—a considerable increase over prior years. The increasing breadth of demands is demonstrated by the steady increase in EU funds to the region, which went from €160 million in 2022 to over €200 million in 2024. Millions of people remain at danger of food insecurity and lack access to essential services since the demand continues to exceed the supply of resources, even with these improvements.
More so, humanitarian aid specialists have emphasized the vital necessity for coordinated efforts to address the underlying causes of instability in addition to financial support. While emergency assistance is crucial, analysts like regional security specialist Dr. Fatima Shehu stress that long-term solutions call for enhancing governance, stabilizing the political climate, and funding Sustainable Development to lessen reliance on aid. Charitable needs will only increase, according to Dr. Shehu, if the causes of conflict—such as the marginalization of particular communities and a lack of economic opportunities—are not addressed.
These initiatives have prevented fatalities & lessened immediate suffering.
Additionally, the EU has already made payments that have been put to use in a number of areas, such as the provision of clean water and sanitary facilities, healthcare, education, and food distribution. EU financing backed the immunization of 500,000 children against avoidable diseases in conflict zones as well as the delivery of emergency food aid to over a million people in Nigeria alone in 2023. The quantifiable outcomes, however, demonstrate that although these initiatives have prevented fatalities and lessened immediate suffering, humanitarian needs are not decreasing due to the crises’ recurrent character.