People walk along a main street in Maroua, the capital of the far northern region of Cameroon, on November 11, 2014. Once a bustling city, Maroua is feeling the brunt of fighting of the Nigerian Islamic sect Boko Haram as trade and tourism have significantly dropped in the past year. Motorcycle taxis are the main means of transport in the city, but traffic is prohibited in the evening as part of the fight against the Nigerian Islamic sect Boko Haram as attacks by the Islamist militants in the far north of the country using motorcycles have increased. Boko Haram’s five-year insurgency in neighboring Nigeria has left thousands dead, and the Islamists have occasionally carried out attacks over the border. Cameroon has deployed more than 1,000 soldiers in the extreme northeast of the country to counter the Islamist threat. AFP PHOTO
By Peter Duru
MAKURDI—More than 300,000 Nigerians affected by the insurgency in the North-East are to benefit from an 11 million Euros Oxfam intervention fund to aid food production in impacted communities.
Oxfam Head of Programmes in Nigeria, Constant Tchona, who made this known at the 2016 Female Food Hero, Ogbonge Woman awards, organised in Makurdi by Oxfam, Nigerian Association of Women in Agriculture, NAWIA, and Benue State government, said 50 percent of the beneficiaries would be women.
Tchona said the intervention, which would be implemented for four years under the Pro-Resilience Action, PROACT, programme of Oxfam, was being co-funded by the European Union and would be executed in Adamawa and Kebbi states.
He said: “PROACT is intended to improve adaptation to climate change, combat desertification, promote nutrition-sensitive agriculture and policies and encourage sustainable and resilient small scale agricultural practices.
“The project will also build the food security, nutrition, and resilience of over 35,000 vulnerable households in the disaster and conflict-affected communities to enhance resilience to food shocks in the post-food crisis period.”
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