US Agencies Restate Support For Vulnerable Nigerians, Orphans

[TGD]

 THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) spends $35 million to provide comprehensive care and support for an estimated 17.5million Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Nigeria, Country Director, Dr Ray Kirkland, has said.

This comes as another international organisation, the United States African Development Foundation  (USADF), said it had directly provided $250,000 (about N40m) in grants to the less-privileged in Nigeria. The grant, according to its Country Program Coordinator, Mr. James Ubaru, is to address social development needs.

Kirkland, who gave a hint of the $35m annual lifeline to Nigeria at the formal handover and launch of the Database for OVC in Nigeria, told t newsmen in Abuja that a portion of the funds goes to the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs through technical assistance from USAID implementing partners, including Measure Evaluation, FHI/GHAIN and Management Science for Health.

He noted that the United States government would continue to assist Nigeria in efforts to improve the welfare of children through various interventions.

Meanwhile, Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Zainab Maina, at the weekend, stressed the need for government to renew commitment to improving the country's human development status, especially as they affect children, in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

She described as alarming, the high number of orphans and vulnerable children in the country, adding that a national situation assessment and analysis of the Nigerian populace estimated that there were about 17.5million people in the country, including children, orphaned by HIV/AIDS.

The minister lamented that children face challenges of stigmatisation, depression and tendency to drop out of school.

She observed that the database would be used for gathering, storing and disseminating critical information on children to government, adding that information available in the database would be translated into local languages.



The Guardian