COVID-19: ECOWAS Donate 4000 Tons Of Food Items To Nigeria
The Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS] Commission, last weekend, donated about 4,000 tons of food items to the federal government for distribution to vulnerable households in Nigeria, to mitigate the suffering caused by the COVID-19.
ECOWAS Commissioner of Agriculture, Water Resources and Environment, Sangare Sekou, disclosed this at the presentation of the items to the federal government on Saturday in Kano. Sekou said that the gesture was to demonstrate the region’s solidarity with the government and the people of Nigeria.
According to Sangare Sekou: “Regional solidarity will be demonstrated through food donations of a total quantity of 3,999 tons of cereals; comprising of millet and sorghum. The first donation consisted of 1,196 tons of cereals financed by the ECOWAS Commission’s Humanitarian Emergency Fund for Disaster and Emergency Relief to member states affected by a humanitarian crisis.
“While the second donation of 2,803 tons was funded by the resources of the Regional Food Security Storage Support Project, which the European Union is financing for a total amount of €56 million.
“The grains will be taken from the stocks in the ECOWAS Regional Food Security Reserve, partly warehoused with the Federal Strategic Reserve Department (FSRD) and distributed free of charge to the households mostly affected by the humanitarian situation in the country.”
Sangare Sekou said the donations would complement the multidimensional support ECOWAS was providing Nigeria since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country. He noted that COVID-19 pandemic disrupted production, warehousing, marketing, processing, and distribution systems of agriculture and food productions, especially in the northeastern part of the country.
“The harmonized framework for identifying risk areas and vulnerability estimates that over 7,087,102 people are currently in difficult food situations in Nigeria, including Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and children affected by malnutrition.
“The ECOWAS Commission has, therefore, decided to provide the support of the region through its Humanitarian Emergency Fund and the financial support of the European Union within the framework of the Regional Food Security Storage Support Project,” Sangare Sekou said.
He hoped that food donations would assist vulnerable households to cope with the multiple crises and safeguard livelihoods.
ECOWAS humanitarian policy, he stated, aims to prevent, mitigate, and provide durable solutions to the complex emergencies, including natural and man-made disasters in the region.
“It was also designed to complement the ECOWAS Disaster Risk Reduction Policy, focusing on disaster risk mitigation through viable interventions targeted at reducing risks as an obstacle to development.”
The Regional Food Security Reserve was established on February 28, 2013, in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire, by the ECOWAS Heads of State and Governments and aims to complement the efforts of member states by providing diversified rapid food and nutritional assistance.
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