The European Union (EU) has announced the release of an additional €250,000 (over N450 million) in humanitarian aid to support thousands of people recently displaced by escalating violence in Benue and Plateau States.
The funding, which was announced Thursday, will enable the Nigerian Red Cross Society to deliver urgent life-saving assistance to 2,500 vulnerable households or approximately 15,000 people, displaced in the past four months by violent attacks perpetrated by armed groups.
According to the statement signed by the Press Officer, EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS Politics, Press and Information Section, Mr. Modestus Chukwulaka, the support package will cover emergency cash transfers, distribution of essential household items, basic healthcare, psychosocial services and access to clean water and sanitation facilities.
The EU added that special attention would be given to women, children and repeatedly displaced persons, many of whom are currently living in overcrowded and underserved informal settlements or displacement camps.
“The humanitarian situation is dire and the needs are immense. This support aims not just to alleviate suffering but to uphold human dignity for those living in precarious conditions”, the EU stated.
Recent data revealed that over 615,000 people are currently displaced in Benue State alone while another 65,000 have fled their homes in Plateau State, many of them subsistence farmers, who lost access to their land during the critical planting season.
These communities now face acute shortages of food, clean water, healthcare and protection services, worsening an already fragile humanitarian landscape.
The funding formed part of the EU’s contribution to the Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) operated by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
The DREF allows for rapid deployment of funds to meet immediate needs in small- to medium-scale emergencies that might otherwise be overlooked by international appeals.
The EU noted that the additional assistance builds on a €500,000 humanitarian contribution made just last month to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), earmarked to address the most urgent needs of displaced populations in Benue State over six months.
“Recurring and targeted violence in Benue and Plateau has created a protracted protection crisis. With new security threats emerging almost weekly, sustained humanitarian action remains not only necessary but urgent”, the EU added
The European Union and its Member States are globally recognised as the largest donors of humanitarian assistance, guided by principles of neutrality, impartiality and humanity. Through its Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), headquartered in Brussels with a vast network of field offices worldwide, the EU supports millions of disaster victims each year.
The European Commission recently signed an €8 million humanitarian delegation agreement with the IFRC to support the DREF, allowing for replenishment of the fund up to a total of €12 million for agreed operations under the EU’s humanitarian mandate.
Created in 1979, the DREF provides vital financial resources for national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to mount swift, effective responses to emergencies without delay.
