Ambassador Ketil Karlsen, the Head, European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, has reinstated that the N21bn (€50m) donated to Nigeria by the EU is strictly meant for the most vulnerable in the country.
Karlsen had earlier stated that the donation was also meant for the provision of Personal Protection Equipment, kits, and to double the testing capacity for COVID-19 in the country.
According to him, “That is why part of the €50m we provide will also be for the relief and safety net for the most vulnerable people, internally displaced persons.
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“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.”
Fielding questions from journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, shortly after announcing the €50m donation at the Presidential Villa, Karlsen said the fund, which would be administered by the United Nations would increase the capacity of COVID-19 treatment 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.”
Karlsen stressed 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.
Earlier, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), commended the European Union for the donation.
Receiving the EU delegation, Buhari said the donation would go a long way in supporting Nigeria’s efforts at controlling and containing the virus.
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