Alarming humanitarian situation in Nigeria calls for IHP support
Published: 2016-11-24
The armed conflict in the north-eastern parts of Nigeria is taking its toll on the population. IHP is deploying to support the humanitarian efforts to augment life-saving assistance in Borno State. Two IHP staff members are on the ground to start the preparations and the remaining team members will be deployed within a few days.
There is active fighting between the rebel group Boko Haram and national and multinational forces in the region. The conflict has spurred one of the worst humanitarian situations the world is facing at the moment. More than 14 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance and there is limited possibility for humanitarian actors to reach the remote areas of the country. Security and remoteness puts serious constraints on the possibility to provide life-saving assistance in the most affected areas.
“The security situation in this part of the country is very precautious and the United Nations have jointly agreed to prioritize humanitarian access and make available secure living and working conditions for humanitarian staff in Borno State” - says Jakob Werneman, deputy head of MSB Operations Section.
The humanitarian situation is extremely worrying
Malnutrition rates are for example at alarming rates, especially among children and other vulnerable groups and reports indicate that the situation as a whole is extremely worrying. “During the assessment some weeks ago we visited several villages close to the areas where humanitarian hubs are likely to be established, and the villages were totally destroyed and there were clear signs of long-lasting heavy fighting. Hopefully, our support will provide necessary capacity to increase the humanitarian presence and an augmentation of staff working in these areas, which will contribute to enhance capacity to coordinate and deliver relief assistance” - Jacob Wernerman continues.
IHP provides support to regional capital and eight hubs
With reference to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Borno State, IHP has received a request from the Humanitarian Country Team, via the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), to support the augmentation of humanitarian operations in Nigeria. More specifically, the request outlines the need to expand the capacity to host humanitarian workers in safe and sound facilities for working and living in the regional Capital Maiduguri as well as in eight remote villages across the Borno State. This will enable more humanitarian staff to be able to operate from in the region and hence be able to deliver more effective and efficient delivery of humanitarian life-saving assistance to the people in need.
The project will be conducted through IHP, led by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), and supported by the Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA). The mission consists of the deployment of a large heavy base camp for approximately 100 staff to the regional capital of Maiduguri, and it will include facilities for accommodation, kitchen, meeting rooms, water and sanitation, power supply and distribution etc. Furthermore the deployment also includes equipment and services to establish eight sub-regional humanitarian hubs for about 15 staff per hub, to provide basic and secure living and working conditions in remote locations. The size of each hub is determined by the evacuation capacity by helicopter. IHP will provide staff to lead, plan, establish, and provide maintenance and basic services for the facilities.
The project is intended to last for approximately 12 months and will be closely implemented with IOM and other relevant humanitarian stakeholders. The project is supported and funded by the Swedish and Danish Governments through MSB and DEMA.