THE EU has announced a new raft of funding taking the amount it has sent to the African nations of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to £189 million this year alone.
According to new figures released by the commission a new £10m pot of additional emergency assistance money was sent to support people last week.
Of that £7 million was sent to Nigeria, £1.7 million to Cameroon and £1.3 million in Niger.
The money, which is intended for starving refugees in the Lake Chad basin, was transferred at the same time the UN put a halt on aid after Boko Haram ambushed a humanitarian convoy.
Western aid officials have criticised Nigerian government’s handling of its terror crisis saying President Muhammadu Buhari, the country’s Muslim president, is using some of the aid to persecute Christian political rivals.
Increased tensions between the government and southern Nigeria, which is predominantly Christian, intensified in May when the military killed 15 people during a peaceful protest.
The EU report states: “Nigeria is the worst hit country by the regional humanitarian crisis.”
According to recent reporter Britain’s Department for International Development has so far sent £870 million to Nigeria to support the government’s ability to fight Boko Haram.
But despite the funds little has been done to actually curb their rise.
A source told the Telegraph: “One of the reasons we have this humanitarian crisis in northern Nigeria is that Mr Buhari is diverting vital resources away from the campaign to pursue his own political agenda.
“The Nigerian government, which is receiving significant amounts of foreign aid, needs to understand that its main priority is to deal with Boko Haram, and also to make sure Nigeria does not suffer the worst humanitarian disaster in its history.”
Last month Nigeria announced plans to begin exploratory drilling in search of oil in the northeastern Chad Basin in two months.
Africa’s biggest crude exporter claimed to be on the verge of a significant oil find in the Lake Chad area.
Now the country, which has long been mired in corruption, is to begin drilling in the basin in October.
Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation chief said: “Drilling activities will commence by the last quarter of 2016.”
Africa’s biggest economy was dented by the global drop in oil prices because it relies on crude exports for around 70 percent of government revenue.
♦ Culled from the Express
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