The United Nations yesterday affirmed $2.1 billion will be donated to the northeastern region of Nigeria in humanitarian relief for crisis response.
UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said this in a chat with reporters at the weekend reporters during presentation of the 2018 Report Launch in Abuja.
Steiner explained $1bn was to be allocated for humanitarian and $1.1bn for development recovery oriented projects for the Lake Chad region.
The human development report, he said, seeks to build on data and empirical evidence.
โThere is a challenge at the moment in the security dimension of the northeast region and that is a challenge that the government of Nigeria is trying to confront and the international community is also providing assistance for,โ he stated.
According to the report, the status of human development in Nigeria has not shown remarkable improvement in spite of the changes in the social and economic conditions in recent years.
Economic growth has not been associated with poverty reduction and unemployment has not been abated.
Also according to the report, there have been gains in the proportion of the population with access to improved water source, and also gains in the health sector of some antenatal care provision and declining HIV/AIDS prevalence.
The report states: โGenerally, the human security index for the country is low, therefore this is a dictation that Nigerians are not humanly secured.
โThe evolving posture here is that there is the likelihood that the low Human Development Index for Nigeria may be due to the low Human Security Index.โ
UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said the main message promised the international community was committed to helping Nigeria tackle its challenges in many areas.
โThree years ago the insurgents Boko Haram controlled large parts of the northeast, they donโt to the same degree anymore.
โThree years ago 8 million people were at the risk of famine and thatโs not the case anymore. There is a food security problem but it affects a much smaller number of people.
โNearly two million people who have been displaced have been able to go home. So we see progress in being able to stabilize the humanitarian situation,โ he said.
