UNICEF announced that it will continue to provide aid to Nigeria’s northeast region despite the attack on humanitarian convoy last Thursday which left aid workers injured.
“We are working at full strength in the Borno state capital Maiduguri…. We continue to call for increased efforts to reach people in desperate need across the state. We cannot let this heartless attack divert any of us from reaching the more than two million people who are in dire need of immediate humanitarian assistance.” UNICEF Nigeria Representative Jean Gough said in a statement late Friday according to local media reports.
The humanitarian agency further urged other donors and humanitarian organizations to scale up response in the northeast, Nigeria due to the disaster and chaos created by Boko Haram insurgents over the last seven years.
“The violence has disrupted farming and markets, destroyed food stocks, and damaged or destroyed health and water facilities. We absolutely have to reach more of these communities,” said the UNICEF representative
Borno state in northeast Nigeria has at least 244, 000 children that will suffer from acute malnutrition this year according to UNICEF.
The attack on the aid workers’ convoy was the first on the aid workers operations in the area.
