The G7 group of wealthy countries has pledged £276 million ($389 million) to assist millions of people affected by the Boko Haram insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria.
It’s expected to support efforts by the UN and other aid agencies in helping victims of the conflict.
A statement from the UK High Commission in Nigeria says Britain is leading the co-ordinated move by the G7 countries to provide humanitarian assistance this year.
It called for more efforts to ensure safe access to humanitarian workers saying in north-eastern Nigeria “communiques daily suffer the consequences of war, including the estimated one million people inaccessible to humanitarian actors due to insecurity”.
British High Commissioner to Nigeria Catriona Laing says: “It is vital we act now to avert further deterioration in the food security situation of millions of people affected by the conflict.”
In February, the UN had launched an appeal fund for $1bn to help more than eight million vulnerable people in northeastern Nigeria.
The ongoing conflict which is now in its second decade, has killed more than 30,000 people and uprooted millions of others from their homes in Nigeria and several neighbouring countries.
The G7 leaders had met in London last week where they made a commitment to “urgently provide an initial £5 billion in humanitarian assistance to a number of countries around the world – including £1 billion to Yemen, South Sudan and Nigeria as soon as possible to save lives’”.
