U.S. COVID-19 assistance to Nigeria hits N15.5bn

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 (N4.2 billion) compared with the $30 million (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 dollars (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).