Technology and Infrastructure firm, General Electric, has donated $1m to the United Nations Children's Fund to support displaced children and others in Borno State, where the UN agency is supporting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
As stated by a statement by GE yesterday, the money is to assist in the health care needs of both the children and their mothers in host communities and in the IDP camps.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of GE Africa, Jay Ireland, who presented the donation to the state Governor, Kashim Shettima, stated the gesture was part of GE’s efforts to avert a humanitarian crisis due to the insurgency in the North-East of Nigeria.
Ireland called for concerted efforts to end the violence in the region.
“No country can develop properly without adequate security of lives and property. This donation will support UNICEF’s work to save the lives of displaced children and families in the region,” he added
UNICEF’s Representative in Nigeria, Ms Jean Gough, noted that funding was urgently needed to protect the more than two million people displaced in Nigeria by the conflict.
As stated by Gough, “This generous donation will help UNICEF to increase the capacity of health workers to provide both emergency and primary health care services for the displaced in Borno State.
“It will also help us to improve on the health structures in both the IDP camps and in the host communities, where many of the displaced have sought shelter.”
Detailing the impact of UNICEF’s work in IDP camps since the insurgency started, Gough explained that in Borno alone, over 217,804 people, who were affected by the conflict, had benefitted from the health services offered through the camps and host community clinics and outreach clinics.
She stated these services included immunisation for children below five years; ante-natal care provided by skilled attendants while more than 630 safe deliveries were conducted in the IDP camps alone.
In his remarks, Shettima commended the gesture by GE, calling on other corporate sorganizations to emulate the firm’s initiative.
The governor stated there were over two million IDPs across the country, living in host communities and over 42 camps.