Amb. Ketil Karlsen the Head, European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, has revealed that the N21bn (€50m) donated to Nigeria by the EU is largely meant for palliatives for poor Nigerians.
He stated that part of the €50m they provided would also be for the relief and safety net for the most vulnerable people, internally displaced persons.
The poor people that depend on the informal markets, they do day-to-day work to put food on their table; the elderly, IDPs, and these, particularly, vulnerable people are the centre-stage of our intervention.
Shortly after announcing the €50m donation, Karlsen said the fund, which would be administered by the United would increase the capacity of COVID-19 treatment in the country.
He said this while fielding questions from journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, at the Presidential Villa.
He had earlier stated that the donation was also meant for the provision of Personal Protection Equipment, kits, and to double testing capacity for COVID-19 in the country.
He said, “The pandemic requires global responses and if we try to fix it country by country, we may not get it right and that is why we are adopting a multilateral approach.
“So, Team Europe came up with a significant package for Nigeria; we are mobilising €50m and another €1.2m that we already gave as part of humanitarian assistance through UNICEF.”
He added that the EU was concerned about the health and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, noting that Europe did not want Nigeria to experience what it was going through presently.
Receiving the EU delegation, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), said the donation would go a long way in supporting Nigeria’s efforts at controlling and containing the virus.
He also commended the European Union for the donation
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