G7 pledges $389 million to support Boko Haram victims in Nigeria

With Nigeria not getting anywhere close to a lasting solution to the activities of the deadly Boko Haram terrorist group, the G7, a group of wealthy countries has pledged the sum of £276 million ($389 million) to assist millions of people affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in north-eastern parts of the country.

According to a statement from the UK High Commission in Nigeria, Britain is leading the coordinated move by the G7 countries to provide humanitarian assistance this year to augment the support from the United Nations and other aid agencies who are helping the victims of the terrorist group.

The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, has called for more efforts to ensure safe access to humanitarian workers while stating that communiques daily suffer the consequences of war, including the estimated one million people inaccessible to humanitarian actors due to insecurity in North-east of Nigeria “.

Laing, according to a report by BBC says: “It is vital we act now to avert further deterioration in the food security situation of millions of people affected by the conflict.”

It would be recalled in February, the UN had launched an appeal fund for $1bn to help more than eight million vulnerable people in northeastern Nigeria.

The ongoing conflict which is now in its second decade, has killed more than 30,000 people and uprooted millions of others from their homes in Nigeria and several neighbouring countries.

The G7 leaders had met in London last week where they made a commitment to “urgently provide an initial £5 billion in humanitarian assistance to a number of countries around the world – including £1 billion to Yemen, South Sudan and Nigeria as soon as possible to save lives’”.