Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The United States, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), is providing $5 million in additional humanitarian assistance to support people affected by unprecedented flooding in Nigeria.
This is coming two months after the US government, through the same agency, granted $1 million to help mitigate the flood disaster.
In a Thursday statement, the US government said the new funding would build on USAID’s initial support in life-saving aid provided following the devastating floods.
The unusually heavy rainfall and resulting flooding in mid-August affected more than 4.4 million people across the country. The floods displaced at least 2.4 million people, destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes and damaged more than 1.6 million acres of farmland.
It was also reported that more than 660 people lost their lives.
With this new funding, USAID partners will reach more than 225,000 people in seven highly affected states with critical aid, including emergency shelter, water and sanitation to protect against waterborne diseases, hygiene kits to promote safe and healthy practices, multipurpose cash for families to purchase what they need to recover, and other complementary assistance to promote economic recovery in communities impacted by the devastating floods.
Speaking on this, US Ambassador to Nigeria, Ms Mary Beth Leonard, said, “The United States will continue standing with the people of Nigeria during this extremely difficult time and maintains a long history of providing humanitarian assistance across the country.”
In the fiscal year 2022 alone, the United States said it had provided more than $406 million in lifesaving, multi-sector assistance to people most affected by conflict and food insecurity.
