TheCable

Kashim Shettima, Borno state governor, has appealed to the international community to come to aid of millions of Nigerians affected by Boko Haram, saying they could cause more refugee crisis for the world.

Shettima said this while addressing international donor countries and agencies at the ongoing humanitarian donor conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad in Oslo, the capital of Norway.

He spoke ‎at a side event on ‘Response and Recovery towards Durable Solutions‎’.

The governor said “whereas the international community budgets about $800 to $2,000 for humanitarian assistance per person over a period of days in other countries, victims in Nigeria (that include those affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in Borno state) get humanitarian assistance of between $40 to $50 per person over a period of days”.

He said there was a need to bridge the difference by increasing budgetary humanitarian assistance to victims of the Boko Haram crisis in Borno state and other parts of Nigeria so that humanitarian agencies could do more for each victim and reach more persons in need.

He explained that the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria should be seen as more critical given Nigeria’s population of nearly 200 million and the concerns of foreign countries to discourage migrants into their countries to cause refugee crisis.

The governor said “if only 2 million Syrian refugees could raise concerns for Europe, over 20 million Nigerians affected and indirectly, by the Boko Haram crisis, could in the long run pose more refugee crisis for other parts of the world if they are not assisted with livelihoods and resilience”.

He said many internally displaced persons require urgent assistance; hence different international agencies ‎currently engaged in humanitarian activities in Borno need more funding for them to sustain what they are doing and for them to reach more persons in need of assistance.

Shettima reeled off statistics of the level of destruction caused by the Boko Haram crisis in Borno, and the number of persons affected and in need of food, medications and humanly acceptable.

He also called for special attention to girl-child education in the north-east as well as the fight against poverty, stating that the best way of responding to the Boko Haram ideology was to increase school enrolment.

The conference is held by the United Nations and the governments of Norway, Germany, and it is tagged, ‘Oslo conference on Nigeria and the Lake Chad’ with foreign ministers of Norway, Germany and Nigeria as participants.

UN envoys; humanitarian workers from Europe; the United States and donor groups around the world are also in attendance.