UNHCR needs $34bn to aid NGA refugees

The United Nations Refugee Agency has made a request for US$34 million to assist the more than 75,000 people who have since last year fled the violence in northeast Nigeria into Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

A statement issued in New York and released in Abuja on Wednesday quotes Babar Baloch, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), that the money was imperative to ameliorate the pains of the refugees.

”Aid agencies expect that the number of people fleeing to the three neighbouring countries could exceed 95,000 by the end of the year, Baloch said.

It stated that the Nigeria Refugee Response Plan, which was presented to donors Wednesday, was made on behalf of UNHCR and 16 partners.

It added that the funds aim to aid people who have crossed the border since 2013, when insurgent groups intensified their terror campaign in the north-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.