UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has encouraged foreign donors to continue funding humanitarian efforts in Africa and around the world while also responding to the Ukraine issue.
Speaking to reporters in Nigeria as he concluded a three-nation visit of West Africa, the United Nations Secretary-General said donors should actually raise money for global aid in order to avoid “undermining” development operations in Africa and other regions of the world.
Numerous countries have offered aid to Ukraine, whose president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has indicated that the country requires $7 billion in humanitarian funding per month as the Russian invasion of Ukraine has developed into a full-fledged war.
Guterres encouraged donor countries to make further contributions to the (Ukraine) crisis while without undermining global efforts in humanitarian and development cooperation.”
Guterres visited Senegal and Niger earlier this week.
According to United Nations data, 8.4 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in northeastern Nigeria, where the impact of the 12-year Islamic extremist insurgency has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Priscilla Bayo Nicholas, a nutrition specialist with the United Nations Children’s Fund, says there are already signs that the war in Ukraine is causing a drop in donations for Nigerian relief operations.
