EU supports UN with €1.2m funding for COVID-19 response in Nigeria

The United Nations (UN) has announced that it received EUR 1.2 million from the European Union for the provision of lifesaving preparedness and response activities for COVID-19 in Nigeria.

This was revealed on Tuesday in Abuja by Mr Geoffrey Njoku, Communications Specialist, UNICEF Nigeria, who said that the support was due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Nigeria.

Njoku also added that concerns around the need to drastically scale-up public health preparedness and response informed the provision of humanitarian funding which would further the UN’s COVID-19 response in Nigeria.

This; “it said would be by engaging with communities on how to best protect themselves from the virus and providing essential health supplies where they were needed most.

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“With these critical funds from the EU, the UN as a whole in Nigeria is in a better position to do the important work of engaging with communities on how they can prevent the spread of this virus.

“It will also complement the government’s efforts to ensure that healthcare workers can continue the critical work they are already doing to test and treat cases in the country,” it quoted Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria.

It also said: “In these trying times, the EU is maintaining its humanitarian support to the most vulnerable people in Nigeria.

“Where we have funded close to €271.5 million (116 billion NGN) in emergency food aid, shelter, access to clean water, hygiene and sanitation, and basic primary healthcare since 2014,” it also quoted Thomas Conan, Head of the EU’s Humanitarian Aid Office in Nigeria.

It said that with EU funding, UNICEF would be contributing to the efforts underway in the country to contain the spread of the virus and mitigate its effects.

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