UN ends humanitarian flights in Nigeria over poor funding
The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service has discontinued its fixed-wing air operations in Nigeria due to insufficient funding.Stéphane Dujarric, the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, announced this during the midday press briefing at the UN Headquarters in New York.
UNHAS, which is run by the World Food Programme, ceased their fixed-wing air service in Nigeria last week because of a lack of financial resources.
“For nine years, this service has facilitated the transportation of humanitarian personnel, medical supplies, and vital cargo to and from the heart of the crisis in Borno and Yobe states,” Dujarric stated. “In a nation that has endured continuous conflict for the last 16 years, road travel is extremely perilous and air transport has become essential.”
The WFP had forewarned that it might be forced to halt all emergency food and nutrition assistance for 1.3 million individuals in northeast Nigeria by the end of July.
WFP Regional Director for West and Central Africa, Margot van der Velden, while addressing UN correspondents in New York, described a dire humanitarian situation in Nigeria. Velden mentioned that the WFP urgently requires 130 million dollars to maintain emergency food and nutritional operations in Northeast Nigeria for the next six months.
She remarked, “Due to the significant funding reductions the World Food Programme is encountering, we have depleted our food and nutrition supplies.” “By the beginning of August, we will have to confront the heartbreaking truth of needing to suspend our operations for communities in northeast Nigeria. Thus, our teams will have to inform the people that they will no longer receive assistance, not because there is no need, but due to a lack of resources for that support.”
She expressed her worries that if life-saving aid were to cease, millions of at-risk individuals might have to make unthinkable decisions.
Velden added that the vulnerable population would experience increasingly severe hunger, face the prospect of migration, or risk potential exploitation by extremist groups in the region. Despite this, Velden praised the Nigerian government for its efforts to tackle the humanitarian crisis in the northeast.
“I would also like to point out that the government of Nigeria is currently the largest contributor to this emergency response in northeast Nigeria,” she stated.
In 2024, UNHAS fixed-wing flights transported over 9,000 passengers. Already this year, 4,500 humanitarian personnel have depended on the service to access affected regions.
According to the UN Spokesperson, UNHAS cannot continue its operations without financial support. Dujarric stated that 5.4 million dollars is required for the UN air service to remain functional for the next six months.
“Without this funding, the humanitarian response in northeast Nigeria is at risk of being severed from the very populations it is designed to assist,” he lamented.
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