U.S. COVID-19 Assistance to Nigeria Hits N15.5bn

Posted by African Examiner African News, Featured, Latest Headlines, World News Thursday, July 2nd, 2020

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The United States’ COVID-19 emergency aid to Nigeria rose to $41.3 million (N15.5 billion) as of Thursday, according to the Department of State.

This represents an additional 11.3 million dollars (N4.2 billion) compared with the 30 million dollars (N11.2 billion) assistance to Nigeria announced by the U.S. in May.

In a statement on Thursday, the department said the amount was part of a 1.3 billion-dollar (N488.8 billion) COVID-19 aid so far announced by the government for 120 countries.

It gave a breakdown of Nigeria’s share to include $3.3 million (N1.2 billion) for health assistance.

According to the statement, $34 million (N12.7 billion) is meant for “humanitarian funding for risk-communications, water and sanitation, infection-prevention, coordination and emergency food assistance”.

It added that $4.1 million or N1.5 billion is reserved for humanitarian assistance for vulnerable people, including internally displaced persons.

“This assistance joins more than $8.1 billion (N3 trillion) in total assistance for Nigeria over the past 20 years, including more than $5.2 billion (N1.9 trillion) for health”, it said.

The department said the total $1.3 billion package was in addition to not less than $100 billion (N37.6 trillion) in global health funding by the U.S. in the last 10 years.

It added that the country had also dished out nearly $70 billion (N26.3 trillion) in “overseas humanitarian assistance” within the period.

As of Tuesday, Nigeria had 26,484 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 603 deaths and 10,152 recoveries, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

(NAN