WFP Director to Visit Boko Haram Affected Areas

By Dipo Olowookere

World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Ertharin Cousin arrives in Nigeria late Tuesday for talks with government officials and to visit the Northeast, where WFP is assisting more than a million people who lives were wrecked by Boko Haram violence.

After meetings with government and United Nations officials in Abuja, Cousin flies to the northeastern city of Maiduguri to review WFP operations and meet families receiving assistance, and partners, WFP staff and government officials leading the response to the crisis.

Conflict with Boko Haram has left nearly two million people in need of emergency assistance. In December, WFP provided cash or food assistance to more than one million people in the region. It plans to scale up the numbers in the months before the onset of the lean season.

Cousin will take part in a news conference in Abuja on Friday on her return from the Northeast and she will also be available for one-on-one interviews with the media on Friday, January 27, at 1pm at the Emergency Coordination Center/Hilton Hotel, Nassarawa Room, Floor 2.