'Team Europe' stays in the news as vulnerable households receive relief package in Nigeria

06.05.2020

Following up on the massively covered Team Europe announcement of 50 million Euro for the Covid-19 response in Nigeria, food items and hand-washing equipment were distributed to vulnerable communities in and around Abuja. A total of 2,200 households whose livelihoods have been mostly impacted by the crisis were targeted in the exercise

 

The benefiting communities were carefully selected after a thorough needs assessment.  Selection of the beneficiaries and distribution of the items were done in concert with the local leaderships of the selected communities.  These include People with Disabilities (PWD); female heads of households and widows, as well as families that depend on informal sector work that cannot be done during the lock-down.  Information booklets on COVID-19 were also provided to the benefiting communities to enhance their awareness of the COVID-19 pandemic.   

The Head of the EU Delegation to Nigeria and to the ECOWAS, Ambassador Ketil Karlsen, who led a team for the exercise, called for solidarity to defeat COVID-19.  “We are focusing on the immediate needs of the most vulnerable because they always pay the highest price when the economies are struggling,” he said. 

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The Delegation has been working with the Nigerian authorities and other partners to provide a swift, effective and holistic response to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. During the month of April, the EU donated a €50 million (N21 billion) contribution to Nigeria’s national response to the crisis, channelled through the UN COVID-19 Basket Fund. In addition, the EU has also assisted UNICEF to procure vital health supplies to provide care for infected persons while containing further spread of the virus in the country. The Nigerian authorities have already taken delivery of the supplies, including test kits, oxygen concentrators, personal protective equipment (PPE), vaccines, and other vital items. These constitute tangible expressions of Team Europe's resolve to express solidarity and make all efforts to act as one when helping Nigeria in these turbulent times.