By Ndahi Marama

MAIDUGURI—No fewer than 13 countries have sought for an emergency $1.1 billion (about N330 billion) for humanitarian needs for 1.8 million internally-displaced persons, IDPs, affected by Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.

Ireland’s Ambassador to Nigeria and Ghana, Mr. Sean Hoy, disclosed this yesterday in Maiduguri at a briefing on “worsening humanitarian crisis” in the three affected states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.

He said the 13 ambassadors and representatives of Republic of Korea, Sweden, Netherlands, Japan, Germany, France, U.S, United Kingdom, and Norway, among other countries, would attend the Oslo conference slated for February 24 to raise $1.1 billion appeal fund.

The appeal fund, according to Hoy, will address the humanitarian crisis in Nigeria, noting that the IDPs had been lacking humanitarian assistance, including basic needs such as shelter, water and health care services.

Meanwhile, 130 households, comprising over 1,000 IDPs, have been ejected by landlords, following their failure to pay their monthly rents in their host community in old Maiduguri.