The United States government has committed an additional $176 million in humanitarian aid to West African countries, including Nigeria.
This announcement was made in a press release from the United States Agency for International Development on Tuesday, May 28, 2024.
USAID highlighted that this financial aid is in response to the worsening security situation in Nigeria, Cameroon, and other West African nations.
The agency emphasized that the humanitarian response in these regions is severely underfunded, with needs far surpassing available assistance.
“The United States, through USAID, is providing nearly $176 million in additional humanitarian assistance for the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions of West Africa in response to deteriorating security conditions and increasing humanitarian needs in communities cut off from assistance due to conflict,” the statement read.
This funding, part of a recently passed bipartisan supplemental appropriation, will aid communities in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Nigeria.
The funds will be channeled through UN and NGO partners, including the UN World Food Program, UNICEF, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The aid will support food assistance, nutrition, safe drinking water, emergency health care, and protection for the most vulnerable populations.
The United States also called on other donors to increase their contributions to help alleviate the suffering of those in need in West Africa.
In 2018, the U.S. announced approximately $533 million in humanitarian assistance for Nigeria and other countries in the Lake Chad region. The U.S. remains a leading donor to the humanitarian response in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin regions.
This new aid package follows the sixth U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission meeting held in Abuja on April 29-30, 2024. During this meeting, the U.S. delegation endorsed Nigeria’s 4D policy of Democracy, Development, Demography, and Diaspora, and discussed ways to integrate U.S. contributions to these goals.
Additionally, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation has a portfolio exceeding $700 million in direct loans, loan guarantees, and other financial support in Nigeria.
In 2022, the two-way trade in goods between the United States and Nigeria totaled over $8.1 billion, making Nigeria the second-largest U.S. export destination in Sub-Saharan Africa.
